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(profeesor  ^tffiam  J^tnr^  (Breen 

f    feifirari?  of 
(prtncefon  ^^eofogtcaf  ^emtnarj^ 

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Butler,  William  Archer, 

18147-1848 . 
Sermons,   doctrinal  and 


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SEllMONS, 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

SECOND  SERIES. 


SERMONS, 


DOCTRINAL  AND  PllACTICAL. 


BY  THE 

I 

Rev.  WILLIAM  ARCHER  BUTLER,  M.A. 

LATE  PROFESSOR  OF  MORAL  PHILOSOPHY  IS  THE  IJN-IVERSITT  OF  DCBLIX. 

SECONDSERIES. 

EDITED  FKOM  THE  AUTHOR'S  MSS. 
BY 

JAMES  AMIRAUX  JEREMIE,  D.D. 

KEGICS  PROFESSOR  OF  DIVINITY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAMBRIDHE. 

FIRST  AMERICAX, 

FROM  THE  THIRD  C  AMU  RIDGE  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PARRY  AND  MCMILLAN. 
1857. 


Entered  according  to  the'  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

PARRY  AND  McMILLAN, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and 
for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
T.  K.  AND  P.  Q.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS. 


ADYERTISEMENT. 


The  Editor  of  the  Sermons  contained  in  this  Volume 
has  confined  himself  to  the  simple  task  of  presenting  a 
faithful  transcript  of  the  original  manuscript.  He  is 
aware  that  upon  many  of  the  points,  which  are  directly 
treated  or  incidentally  noticed,  much  difference  of  opinion, 
must  exist ;  and  he  is  in  no  wise  pledged  to  defend  all 
the  arguments  and  interpretations  of  Scripture  adopted 
by  the  lamented  Author.  A  posthumous  work  is  neces- 
sarily imperfect,  and  discourses  intended  for  oral  delivery 
would  doubtless  have  gained  much  in  terseness  of  style 
and  diction  by  a  careful  preparation  for  the  press.  But, 
even  in  their  present  form,  these  Sermons  will  be  found 
to  be  of  no  ordinary  merit.  They  are  marked  by  the 
same  originality  and  vigor  of  expression,  the  same  richness 
of  imagery  and  illustration,  the  same  large  views  and 
catholic  spirit,  and  the  same  depth  and  fervor  of  devotional 
feeling,  which  so  remarkably  distinguished  the  preceding 
Series,  and  which  rendered  it  a  most  valuable  accession  to 
our  theological  literature. 


1* 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  I. 

CHRIST  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL  BLESSINGS. 

PAGE 

Of  Him  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wis- 
dom, and  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  redemption. — 
1  Cor.  i.  30  13 

SERMOX  II. 

LIVING  AND  DYING  UNTO  THE  LORD. 

For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die, 

we  die  unto  the  Lord. — Rom.  xiv.  8        .....  29 

SERMON  III. 

THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  AND  THE  CHARITIES  OF  LIFE. 

It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be :  but  we  know  that,  when 
He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him  ;  for  we  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is. — 1  John  iii.  2  42 

SERMON  lY. 

THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 

And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal, 
proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. — Rev. 
xxii.  1  59 


viii 


Contents. 


SERMON  V. 

THE  SORKOW  THAT  EXALTS  AND  SANCTIFIES. 

PAOE 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall  he  comforted. — Matt. 

V.  4       .   71 


SERMON  VI. 

THE  PUEIFYING  POWER  OF  TRIBULATION. 

What  are  these  ■which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes  ?  and  whence 
came  they  ? .  .  .  .  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tri- 
bulation.— Rev.  vii.  13,  14  83 


SERMON  YII. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  DIVINE  LIFE. 

I  write  unto  you,  little  children,  because  ye  have  known  the 

Father.— 1  John  ii.  13  97 


SERMON  YIII. 

LESSONS  FROM  A  MONARCH'S  DEATH. 

(Preached  oa  the  Sunday  after  the  death  of  William  IV.) 

Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, — Remove  the  diadem,  and  take  off  the 

crown! — Ezek.  xxi.  2G  Ill 


SERMONIX. 

DYING  TO  SIN  AND  THE  LAW. 
Ye  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ. — Rom.  vii.  4  127 


SERMON  X. 

THE  RESTORER  OF  MANKIND. 


I  will  restore  health  unto  thee,  and  I  will  heal  thee  of  thy  wounds, 

saith  the  Lord. — Jer.  xxx.  17  144 


Contents. 


SERMON  XI. 

THE  TRUE  FAST. 

(Preached  for  the  Mendicity  Institution,  at  St  Stephen's  Chapel,  Dublin. 
Sunday  Morning,  July  23,  1837.) 

PAGE 

Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen  ? ....  Is  it  not,  to  deal  thy 
bread  to  the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor  that  are 
cast  out,  to  thy  house  ?  When  thou  seest  the  naked,  that  thou 
cover  him,  and  that  thou  hide  not  thyself  from  thine  own 
flesh  ?— Isaiah  Iviii.  6,  7  159 


SERMOX  XII. 

THE  WAY  TO  DIVINE  KNOWLEDGE. 

(Preached  for  Peter's  Schools,  Peter's  Church,  Jan.  28,  1838.) 

If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 

it  be  of  God.— John  vii.  17  174 


SERMON  XIII. 


THE  ASCENSION. 

(The  Ascension  Day.) 

While  they  beheld.  He  was  taken  up ;  and  a  cloud  received  Him 

out  of  their  sight. — Acts  i.  9  190 


SERMON  XIV. 

THE  FOLLY  OF  MORAL  COWARDICE. 

Be  not  thou,  therefore,  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord. — 

2  Tim.  i.  8  206 


SERMON  XV. 

THE  WILL  OF  GOD  TOWARDS  HIS  CHILDREN. 

It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of 

these  little  ones  should  perish. — Matt,  xviii.  14    .       ,       .  222 


Contents. 


SERMON  XVI. 

STRENGTH  AND  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

(Preached  at  Leeds  Parisli  Church,  Nov.  21,  1841.) 

PAOE 

The  Lord  hath  founded  Zioii,  <and  the  poor  of  His  people  shall 

trust  in  it. — Isaiau  xiv.  32    236 


SERMON  XVIT. 

THE  INGRATITUDE  OF  THE  JEWS. 

(Preached  at  St  Stephen's  Church,  June  4,  1837.) 

And,  behold,  the  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  Jesus  ;  and  when 
they  saw  Him,  they  besought  Him  that  He  would  depart  out 
of  their  coasts. — Matt.  viii.  34    247 


SERMON  XVIII. 

THE  ADVENT  EXALTS  HUMAN  RELATIONS. 

(Preached  fur  the  Western  LyiuR-In  Hospital,  Dublin,  December  2,  1838. 
Advrut  Sunday.) 

And  she  brought  forth  her  first-born  son,  and  wrapped  him  in 
swaddling  clothes,  and  laid  Him  in  a  manger ;  because  there 
was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn. — Ldke  ii.  7        .       •       •  2G4 


SERMON  XIX. 

DANGER  OF  BACKSLIDING. 

(Preached  at  St  Anne's  Church,  Dawsoa  Street,  July  2,  18.37.) 

Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left 

thy  first  love.— Rev.  ii.  4  281 


SERMON  XX. 

THE  WORD  OF  GOD. 

(Preached  at  St  Stephen's,  Mount  Street,  Juno  IS,  1837.) 

The  people  pressed  upon  Him  to  hear  the  Word  of  God. — Luke  v.  1  297 


Contents. 


xi 


SERMONXXI. 

THE  CLAIMS  OF  SPIRITUAIi  DESTITUTION. 

(Preached  at  St  Patrick's,  Nov.  2S,  1S44,  for  the  Additional  Curates'  Fund.) 

PAGE 

....  Having  hope,  when  your  faith  is  increased,  that  we  shall  be 
enlarged  by  yon  according  to  our  rule  abundantly,  To  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  regions  beyond  you,  and  not  to  boast  in 
another  man's  line  of  things,  made  ready  to  our  hand. — 2  Cor. 
X.  15,  16  313 

SERMON  XXII. 

THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  SCBMISSION. 

(Preached  at  the  Magdalen  Asylum,  May  28,  1837.) 
For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light. — Matt.  xi.  30         .  328 

SERMON  XXIII. 

THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 
(Trinity  Sunday,  May  21,  18,'i7.) 

And  the  Word  was  God.— John  i.  1  339 

SERMON  XXIV. 

WATCHMAN,  WHAT  OF  THE  NIOHT  ? 

(College  Chapel,  Friday,  May  31, 18^9.) 

He  calleth  to  me  out  of  Seir,  Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?  watch- 
man, what  of  the  night  ?  The  watchman  said.  The  morning 
Cometh,  and  also  the  night :  if  ye  will  inquire,  inquire  ye : 
return,  come. — Isaiau  xxi.  11,  12  350 

SERMON  XXV, 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  FINAL  JUDGMENT. 

(Preached  in  behalf  of  the  As.wociation  for  the  Relief  of  distressed  Protestants, 
St  Peter's  Church,  Dublin,  Sunday,  June  13,  1841.) 

And  the  King  shall  answer,  and  say  unto  them.  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of 
these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me. — Matt.  xxv.  40  358 


xii  Contents. 


SERMON  XXVI. 

ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 

(First  Sunday  after  Trinity. ) 

PAdE 

Between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  :  so  that  they  which 
would  pass  from  hence  to  you  cannot ;  neither  can  they  pass 
to  us,  that  would  come  from  thence. — Luke  xvi.  26        .       .  381 


SERMON  I. 


CHRIST  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL  BLESSINGS. 

Of  Him  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and 
righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  redemption. — I  Cor.  i.  30. 

The  relation  of  Christ  Jesus  to  the  Church  at  large  by 
covenant,  the  relation  of  Christ  Jesus  specially  to  those 
within  that  Church,  who,  fulfilling  the  terms  of  the  cove- 
nant, make  the  promised  blessings  their  own, — is  the  most 
wondrous  of  all  conceivable  subjects  of  thought.  In  the 
view  of  the  inspired  teachers  it  seems  to  absorb  every- 
thing into  itself,  to  comprehend  everything,  to  transform 
everything;  it  is  the  sun  in  the  vast  heaven  of  their  con- 
templation, attracting  all  around  it,  and  by  whose  light 
alone  every  object,  to  be  visible  at  all,  must  be  seen.  It 
is  as  if  they  had  suddenly  received  new  organs  adapted  to 
a  new  and  spiritual  illumination,  and  become  utterly  blind 
to  every  other;  it  is  as  if  ordinary  men  were  but  as  those 
who  walk  in  sleep,  who  come  forth  in  their  dreaming  state 
uttering  strange  fancies  of  unreal  and  shadowy  worlds 
that  each  builds  for  himself  and  none  can  communicate  to 
his  fellow;  but  that  these  men  were  given  to  burst  the 
slumber,  to  see  the  vast,  solid,  immutable,  reality  of  things, 
the  true  unshaken  world, — the  same  for  every  unsealed 
eye  that  beholds  it, — and  thence  evermore  cried  aloud  to 
the  dreaming  millions  around  them — "Awake,  thou  that 
sleepest!  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light."  And  all  this, 
VOL.  II. — 2 


14 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SERM.  I. 


wliich  is  the  unrivalled  character  of  the  New  Testament, 
without  a  particle  of  mysticism,  of  cold  unpractical  exalta- 
tion. When  men  desert  the  homely  familiarities  of  life  it 
is  easy  to  glide  into  ecstasies;  persons  of  warm  fancies  are 
perpetually  doing  so;  and  we  know  how  such  perilous 
excitement  is  pleasurably  maintained  as  long  as  the  dull 
realities  of  daily  existence  are  forgotten;  but  one  harsh 
thought  of  the  actual  world  destroys  all  the  enthusiast's 
power,  unnerves  the  wings  of  fancy;  it  is, — to  use  a 
mechanical  metaphor, — the  jet  of  cold  ivater  which  at  once 
condenses  all  the  evaporation!  But  the  Apostles  in  their 
hours  of  brightest  thought  are  at  home  among  the  minutest 
concerns  of  common  life,  they  accompany  us  into  every 
recess  of  domestic  duty,  their  "bread  of  life"  is  "daily 
bread,"  and  perhaps  they  are  never  more  truly  elevated 
than  when  they  discourse  of  the  humblest  topics  of  the 
Christian's  household.  The  lark  when  half  hidden  in  the 
clouds  can  discern  the  minutest  speck  among  the  grass  and 
flowers;  the  spirit  of  Paul  and  John  could  look  forth  from 
its  place  of  repose  in  heaven  to  see  only  the  more  distinctly 
every  affection  and  duty  and  relationship  that  belongs  to 
the  lowliest  earthly  estate. 

And  thus  nothing  is  forgotten,  but  all  is  sanctified.  Life 
is  here;  but  life  blended  with  the  Life  of  heaven.  The 
great  characters  of  human  existence  are  unchanged,  its 
relationships, — father  and  child,  monarch  and  subject, 
master  and  servant,  husband  and  wife, — are  as  before;  but 
there  is  a  seal  upon  them  stamped  by  the  signet  of  God, 
they  are  all  "in  Christ."  "Children,  obey  your  parents,  in 
the  Lordr  "  Pay  ye  tribute,  for  they  are  God^s  ministey-s."' 
"Servants,  be  obedient, — as  the  servants  of  Christ, — for  ye 
serve  the  Lordr  "Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as 
Christ  loved  the  church."  This  new  and  celestial  connection 
with  Christ  became  the  ground  and  motive  of  everything. 
The  church  was  intended  to  be  the  world,  but  the  world  of 
Christ;  it  was  to  be  "the  City  of  God,"  a  specimen  of  what, 


SEEM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


15 


even  on  earth  and  before  the  redemption  of  the  body,  a 
polity  might  be  through  every  region  of  which  the  living 
graces  of  Christ  were  circulating.  And  thus  all  the  chief 
features  of  human  life  were  preserved,  the  lines  of  the 
portrait  remained ;  but  they  were  colored  with  a  divine 
pencil,  the  hues  of  heaven  were  on  them,  "into  that  Image" 
were  they  "changed,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord !" 

From  birth,  then,  (for  men,  to  live  eternally,  must  be 
"born  of  the  Spirit"  which  is  "the  Spirit  of  Christ")  to 
death  (for  men,  to  live  eternally,  must  "fall  asleep  in 
Christ")  He  is  the  one  central  glory  of  the  Church.  The 
covenant  is  "  the  covenant  of  God  in  Christ,"  it  is  "  His 
promise  in  Christ;"  His  purpose  was  "  to  gather  in  one  all 
things  in  Christ,"  that  all  might  be  "  one  in  Christ  Jesus," 
all  "one  body  in  Christ."  We  need  not  wonder,  then, 
that  in  the  passage  before  us  He  is  set  forth  as  the  channel 
of  every  spiritual  blessing;  that  on  Him  all  is  made  to 
depend  which  fits  the  trembling  sinner's  soul  for  glory. 
But  shall  we  not  wonder  at  those,  who  reading  such  things 
of  this  wondrous  Being,  seeing  in  Him  the  golden  link 
that  binds  the  spirit  of  a  man  to  the  God  who  inhabiteth 
eternity,  can  yet  conceive  that  the  nature  of  man,  or  of 
angel,  was  adequate  to  accomplish  what  lie  accomplished? 
to  be  "the  express  image  of  the  Father's  person,"  and 
thence  to  be  to  us,  "from  Him"  as  Fountain,  our  wisdom, 
our  righteousness,  our  sanctiflcation,  and  our  redemption? 

The  Apostle  in  the  context  is  speaking  of  the  rejection 
of  Christ, — his  rejection  among  Jews  and  Gentiles.  He 
declares  that  this  great  object, — a  crucified  Saviour, — was 
"to  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  to  the  Greeks  foolishness." 
In  truth  it  was  a  trying  office  the  Apostle  had  to  dis- 
charge. He  had  to  publish  to  the  world  as  its  only  Hope, 
a  man  despised  by  his  own  nation  through  life,  and  dying 
as  a  malefactor  at  their  hands.  It  was  not  merely  to 
vindicate  the  innocence  of  this  man,  for  in  that  the  world 


16 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SERM.  I. 


could  have  been  little  concerned ;  it  was  to  declare  liim 
"  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God,"  to  force  them 
to  see,  through  all  the  degradation  and  the  horrors  of  this 
man's  death,  the  eternal  purposes  of  heaven  stretching 
into  dim  infinity  beyond  them.  It  appears  to  me, — yet  I 
do  not  oft'cr  it  as  more  than  a  conjecture, — that  the  ex- 
pressions of  the  Apostle  in  the  text  are  fitted  with  a  very 
peculiar  adaptation  to  the  passage  preceding  it.  In  the 
27th  and  28th  verses  he  mentions  four  classes  of  persons 
and  things  which  are  concerned  in  this  great  work  of 
salvation  through  Christ,  though  in  diftcrent  ways:  the 
foolish  things  of  the  world,  the  weak  things  of  the  world, 
the  base  things  of  the  world,  the  things  which  are  not, — 
the  absolutely  non-existent.  These  are  (in  the  mysterious 
working  of  God)  the  commissioned  army  of  Heaven,  these 
are  the  instruments  by  which  the  stupendous  purpose  of 
divine  mercy  is  to  be  wrought  out.  The  result  he  states 
in  the  29th  verse,  "  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  His 
presence,"  that  the  power  might  be  clearly  seen  to  be  that 
of  God  alone, — seen  alike  by  those  who  are  to  receive  the 
benefit,  and  those  who  are  to  be  the  means  of  bestowing  it. 
But  in  the  divine  martyr  of  the  Cross  the  Church  was  ever 
to  find  its  image  and  model ;  and  hence  (as  it  seems)  the 
Apostle  proceeds  to  invest  Christ  with  an  attribute  answer- 
ing in  each  instance  to  the  classes  already  mentioned  of 
his  "  servants  and  followers."  "  The  foolish  things  of  the 
world"  shall  "  confound  the  wise,"  for  Christ  is  made  unto 
us  "  wisdom ;"  "  the  weak  things  of  the  world"  shall  "  con- 
found the  mighty,"  for  Christ,  in  being  made  to  us 
"righteousness"  or  "justification,"  has  already,  in  the 
weakness  of  humble  humanity,  overcome  principalities 
and  powers ;  "  the  base  and  despised  things  of  the  world 
hath  God  chosen,"  for  Christ  is  made  unto  us  "sancti- 
fication," — the  source,  and  the  earnest,  and  the  beginning, 
to  "him  that  humbleth  himself,"  of  eternal  and  ineffable 
glory ;  the  "  things  that  are  not"  shall  "  bring  to  nought 


SERM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


17 


tilings  that  are," — shall  supersede,  eclipse,  and  transcend 
them, — for  Christ  is  made  to  us  "  redemption,"  He  rescues 
from  bondage  thousands  who  till  his  redemption  "were 
not,"  did  not  exist  in  the  empire  of  divine  mercy, — He 
sAaZZ  achieve  that  still  more  wondrous  "redemption  of  (he 
lody"  which  I  think  to  be  the  "  redemption"  mainly- 
intended  here, — whereby  a  frame  virtually  non-existent 
shall  be  recreated  to  immortality  and  blessedness  unknown 
in  "  the  things  that  are," — in  the  present  creation.  And 
thus  are  the  gifts  which  Christ  bestows,  ordained  to  be  the 
glorious  supplements  of  the  infirmities  of  His  Church ;  His 
wisdom,  of  its  ignorance;  His  justification,  of  its  helpless- 
ness; His  sanctification,  of  its  debasement;  His  redemption, 
of  its  nothingness. 

But  whether  this  was  the  peculiar  course  of  thought  in 
the  Apostle's  mind  or  not  when  he  framed  this  memorable 
sentence,  the  instruction  it  contains  remains  substantially 
the  same,  the  consolation  it  tenders  to  the  dependent 
Christian  equally  unaltered.  Let  us  for  a  while  reflect  on 
it;  it  is  a  miniature  of  the  Gospel  portrait.  Wondrous 
words  indeed  are  these !  So  few  yet  so  rich  with  boundless 
meaning;  level  to  the  capacities  of  children,  profound 
enough  to  exhaust  the  conceptions  of  angels. 

It  is  my  wish  to  speak  for  the  present  briefly  and  sim- 
ply of  them,  avoiding  the  harsh  and  unpractical  controver- 
sies that  have  peculiarly  harassed  this  passage,  as  they  have 
done  every  passage  of  Scripture  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
fulness  of  its  blessedness  of  consolation, — for  these  are  as 
insects  that  ever  select  the  ripesl  fruit  in  the  Eden  of  God 
to  fasten  on  and  to  corrode.  My  own  object  (I  will  confess 
it)  has  long  been  to  strive  after  that  great  and  single 
thought  of  which  all  these  controversies  as  to  the  Work  of 
Christ  in  relation  to  the  soul  of  Man, — His  righteousness 
imputed  and  His  holiness  imparted, — seem  to  present  us 
but  detached  and  therefore  lifeless  portions.  These  dispu- 
tations give  us  truth  indeed ;  but  truth  partial  and  imper- 

2* 


18 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SERM.  I. 


feet :  it  is  as  if  one  should  labor  to  reflect  the  whole  am- 
plitude of  Heaven  in  each  of  the  scattered  fragments  of  a 
broken  mirror.  And  when  these  poor  fragments  are  bound 
together  in  the  framework  of  a  human  system,  the  case  is 
little  mended;  they  arc  fragments  still;  the  joinings  and 
the  fissures  are  too  palpable, — they  still  cross  and  distort 
the  image.  What  then  is  that  great  and  fundamental 
thought  which,  if  any  other,  involves  in  it  the  fulness  of 
the  Gospel ;  on  which  all  the  breadth  and  fulness  of  divine 
glory  rests  reflected ;  which  suffices  to  all  who  would  be 
humbly  happy,  while  it  presents  unfathomed  mystery  to  all 
who  would  dare  be  more?  What  but  this — that  as  the 
basis  of  all  knowledge  of  God  is  contained  in  the  revela- 
tion of  His  threefold  unity ;  so  the  root  of  all  Christian 
Faith  as  to  God's  Work  in  Man  is  in  the  parallel  and  not 
less  wondrous  truth,  that  we  are  called  to  be  One  with 
Him.  Mysterious  as  is  the  oneness  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  it  is  not  one  whit  more  mysterious  than  the  oneness 
of  the  Regenerate  Spirit  of  Man  with  the  same  God  in 
Christ  Jesus.  It  is  the  perfection  of  tliis  union  which  all 
the  rival  dogmas  attempt,  after  their  foshion,  to  express;  — 
it  is  the  full  conception  of  this  union  which  ought  to  super- 
sede all  these  contentions,  by  placing  us  on  a  height  from 
which  we  can  afford  to  look  down  upon  them  all ! 

And  now  let  us  see  how  the  thoiight  is  worked  out  in 
the  words  before  us.  St  Paul  seems  to  have  had  in  his 
mind  (for  many  are  the  relations  that  meet  together  in  a 
single  passage  of  the  Holy  Ghost's  writing)  a  concei:)tion  of 
the  gradual  growth  of  the  Christian  spirit  under  the  hand 
of  Christ,  from  its  dawn  of  grace  to  its  final  fulfilment  in 
glory.  He  seems  to  view  Christ  as  the  great  dispenser  of 
the  Father's  treasures,  accumulating  gifts  upon  the  Be- 
liever's soul  till  it  brightens  into  the  very  Image  of  Him- 
self; to  view  it  rising  higher  and  higher,  as  it  is  drawn 
nearer  and  nearer  to  Him,  till  the  crisis  of  the  final  redemp- 
tion is  come  and  it  is  lost  from  the  eye,  hidden  beyond  the 


SEKM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


19 


clouds.  I  do  not  myself  mucli  sympathize  with  the  spirit 
of  precise  and  uniform  measurement  that  some  persons 
profess  to  be  able  to  apply  to  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Course ;  yet  in  this  place  stages  of  progress  seem  certainly 
intimated,  blessings  that  surpass  each  other ;  the  words  are 
as  the  ladder  in  the  Patriarch's  vision,  "set  up  on  the  earth, 
and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven ;  and  behold,  the  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending  on  it." 

In  God  Himself, — the  pure,  essential  Deity, — the  whole 
is  based.  "  Of  God  are  ye  in  Christ ;"  and  Christ  is  "  made 
unto  us"  all  these  blessings  "from  God."  God  is  the  ulti- 
mate Source  and  Cause  of  the  entire ;  Christ  acts  as  the 
minister  of  His  mercies ;  a  Person  divine  and  human  is  the 
appointed  Mediator  between  the  human  and  divine.  "  From 
jffi'm"  or  "  out  of  Him,"  the  verse  begins,  "  are  ye  in  Christ 
Jesus;"  born  of  God  Himself  by  the  instrumentality  of 
Christ,  and  known  for  the  children  of  God  when  wearing 
the  signature  of  Christ.  As  there  is  no  other  channel  to 
God  but  Christ  Jesus,  so  there  is  no  other  beginning  or  ter- 
mination to  the  work  of  Christ  Jesus  but  God.  The  lan- 
guage of  Scripture  on  this  point  is  wonderful,  unfathom- 
able. It  would  appear  that,  as  regards  the  work  of  grace, 
God  sees  nothing  from  His  throne  but  Christ  Jesus  alone 
and  altogether ;  as  if  all  else  was  covered  with  clouds  and 
darkness  impenetrable  to  the  eye  of  divine  love.  It  would 
seem  as  though  the  radiance  that  issues  on  all  sides  from 
the  divine  nature  were  separable  into  distinct  beams  ;  that 
every  ray  of  mercy  gathered  through  this  medium  to  the 
world,  while  all  beside  and  beyond  it  burst  forth  only  to 
scorch  and  to  wither.  The  Church  is  His  Body ;  and  it  is 
only  as  His  Body  that  it  is  known  or  numbered,  in  the 
Councils  of  Heaven.  The  mercies,  whatever  they  be,  that 
stretch  beyond  the  Church  in  the  sclieme  of  grace,  are  but  the 
diffusive  blessings  that  spread  around  His  mystical  Body, 
even  as  the  hem  of  His  garment  had  healing  virtue  of  old ; 
they  are  still  given  to  glorify  Him,  and  as  appendages  of  Hi.s 


20 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[8ERM.  I. 


royalty.  But,  as  all  descends  throxigh  Christ,  so  all  descends 
from  God.  The  divine  nature  is  still  sovereign  in  this 
mysterious  economy;  the  Christian  would  be  but  an  idol- 
ater if  he  failed  to  recognize  this.  In  adoring  Christ 
with  all  the  fervor  of  utter  worship,  you  must  look  beyond 
the  man ;  the  imagination  must,  indeed,  fail  to  conceive 
Him,  but  the  Reason  must  learn  to  acknowledge  the  co- 
eternal  "  Word  of  God,"  who,  "  with  God,"  "  was  God 
and  to  know  in  that  infallible  Being,  one  with  the  Father 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  last  source  of  every  blessing  the 
human  Jesus  gives.    "  Of  God  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus." 

IIow,  then,  is  this  mysterious  union  wrought,  by  which 
we  are  thus  connected  with  the  Godhead  by  being  "in 
Christ  Jesus"? 

Brethren,  there  are  two  senses  in  which  such  a  question 
as  this  may  be  understood;  two  senses  which  I  heartily 
wish  for  the  peace  of  the  Church  had  been  oftener  carefully 
distinguished. 

If  a  man  ask  me,  what  is  the  very  nature  itself  of  the 
union  which  takes  place  between  a  Christian  and  His  God 
through  Christ, — what  is  the  actual  process  by  which  the 
work  of  Christ  becomes  appropriated  to  us  and  so  gains  us 
this  blessing, — I  reply,  that  I  know  not,  and  in  this  world 
never  expect  to  know.  The  subject,  in  this  view  of  it, 
lies  utterly  be3'ond  all  human  conception.  Whether 
wrought  within  us  or  without  us, — whether  indwelling  or 
imputed, — the  process  itself  is  wholly  inconceivable  to  a 
being  formed  as  man  is.  Explain  it  to  the  utmost,  and 
upon  any  system  soever,  we  must  come  at  length  to  some- 
thing we  cannot  explain;  and  to  see  this  clearly  from  the 
beginning,  is  the  best  security  from  fruitless,  and  irritating, 
and  dangerous  disputation.  The  connection  between  Christ 
and  the  Soul  is  as  really  a  mystery  as  the  conjunction  of 
God  and  Man  in  the  Incarnation.  Something  there  must 
be, — something  there  is, — as  Scripture  most  amply  attests, 
done  for  us  when  we  are  indeed  "translated  into  the  king- 


SERM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


21 


dom  of  God's  dear  Son,"  of  a  nature  to  us  unimaginable,  of 
whicli  we  cannot  be  directly  conscious,  wliich  is  known 
only  to  the  Eternal  Spirit  that  works  it.  We  only  know, 
that  from  being  "born  of  the  flesh,"  "earthly,  sensual, 
devilish," — we  become  "born  of  the  Spirit,"  introduced 
into  the  family  and  household  of  God; — we  only  know, 
that  there  is  an  interchange  by  which  as  Christ  became 
man  without  ceasing  to  be  God,  so  is  the  Regenerate,  with- 
out ceasing  to  be  man,  identified  with  Christ,  and  righteous- 
ness, holiness,  immortality,  all  things ; — but  how  this  is 
wrought,  or  can  be  wrought,  no  human  theory  has  ever 
explained,  no  wise  man  will  ever  think  of  attempting  to 
explain.  We  adore  the  mercy,  we  enlarge  upon  the  bless- 
ing, but  we  comprehend  it  not !  We  live  a  natural  life, 
but  no  man  has  yet  discovered  what  is  the  principle  of 
natural  life.  We  see,  and  rejoice  in  the  noontide  light ; 
but  no  man  can  tell  how  it  is  that  light  affects  the  optic 
nerve  and  wakes  it  into  apprehending  the  thousand  hues 
and  shadows  of  loveliness  with  whicli  God  has  invested 
His  creation!  Our  very  thoughts  and  their  course  are 
mysteries  whose  sources  we  cannot  sound.  It  is  hard,  is  it? 
to  understand  how  we  can  be  one  with  Christ  in  His  privi- 
leges ?  let  us  first  try  can  we  understand  how  we  arc  able 
to  entertain  the  question, — to  tliink  of  that  or  of  anything! 

But  if  a  man  ask  the  wiser  question — what  are  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  union  whose  basis  is  hid  in  fathomless 
mystery?  what  are  the  Scriptural  characteristics  of  the 
connection?  we  can  then  reply  by  stating  the  results  per- 
petually dependent  on  this  blessed  participation ;  the  gifts 
by  which  this  hidden  glory  makes  itself  known.  We  can 
reply  with  the  text  that  it  is  by  Christ's  being  "  made  to 
us  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  re- 
demption." We  can  express  Uim  by  His  effects.  He  is 
made  to  us  Wisdom  by  enlightening  us,  Righteousness  by 
justifying  us,  Sanctification  by  purifying  us,  Redemption 
by  purchasing  us  into  immortality.    Yet,  while  thus  insist- 


22 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SEllM.  I. 


ing  upon  the  results,  Christ — the  ground  and  cause  of  the 
results — must  ever  be  included  as  part  of  the  blessing;  if 
it  be  folly  to  think  to  explain  the  fact,  it  is  far  more  deadly 
error  to  forget  it.  In  every  one  of  these  particulars  He  is 
alike  the  Giver,  the  Gift,  and  the  Object  of  the  Gift ;  in 
every  one  of  them  He  is  (as  is  intimated  in  the  expression 
"made  unto  us")  identified  with  His  people  in  the  spiritual 
bonds  of  the  same  body  and  blood. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  passage  as  designating  a  progress 
of  blessings;  let  us  contemplate  the  Christian  Soul  making 
its  first  step  upon  this  path  of  peace;  and  ihen,  as  possess- 
ing in  Him  who  gave  the  power  to  make  that  step,  all  the 
fulness  of  grace  it  can  lead  to! 

Wisdom — the  apprehension  of  the  true  and  divine  know- 
ledge— is  just  this  first  stage;  the  clearing  of  the  eye  of 
reason  for  the  prospect  itself  of  eternity  and  of  God. 
Christ  who  gives  it — Cbrist  who  of  old  was  declared  under 
the  title  of  "  Wisdom" — He  also  is  the  Object  most  promi- 
nent in  the  foreground  of  the  Picture  which  spiritual  wis- 
dom presents  to  the  awakened  soul  of  the  convert.  Christ, 
I  must  repeat,  is  here  declared  to  be  "  to  us  made  Wisdom," 
not  so  much  because  he  is  the  giver  of  wisdom  as  because 
he  is  the  ground  and  object  of  it;  not  so  much  because  be 
declares  to  us  the  truth  as  because  he  is  the  truth.  He 
gives  us  knowledge  in  giving  us  Himself.  It  is  as  Light 
is  said  to  show  us  all  things;  while  in  reality  all  we  see  is 
still  only  light  itself.  The  revealer  is  also  the  revelation. 
It  is  hence  that  St  Paul  speaks  of  this  "  wisdom  of  God  in 
a  mystery"  as  that  which  Jew  and  Gentile  alike  spurned: — 
like  the  unhappy  seceders  of  our  own  day,  the  wisdom  of 
Christ's  words  they  might  allow,  but  the  wisdom  that  saw 
in  Himself  the  ohject  of  His  own  language,  that  turned  the 
eye  of  the  Soul  on  Him  not  merely  for  what  He  said  but 
for  what  He  did, — not  as  an  inspired  Preacher  only,  but  as 
a  divine  King  and  Priest  and  Sacrifice  also, — this  they 
could  not  receive.  They  could  tolerate  Christ  on  the  Mount, 


SERM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


23 


but  not  Christ  on  the  Cross.  And  hence  they  lost  the 
blessing;  to  such  Christ  was  not  "made  wisdom;"  for 
round  the  Cross  all  the  truest  glories  of  divine  wisdom 
gather;  and  they  who  will  not  study  heaven  there,  can 
never  know  it.  But  oh,  the  blessedness  of  that  soul  which 
undisturbed  by  these  vain  suggestions,  opens  for  the  first 
time  to  the  full  appreciation  of  "the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  feels  the  highest  wisdom  of  earth 
grow  pale  in  comparison !  That  bright  infancy  of  grace, 
which  has  so  much  of  the  simplicity  and  devotedness  of 
the  infancy  of  nature!  and  to  which  on  the  other  hand  (let 
me  add)  the  youth  of  Nature  seems  so  peculiarly  adapted. 
Think  not,  ye  who  are  young  in  the  life  of  this  world,  that 
the  time  is  not  yet  come  for  this  stage  of  the  Christian 
course.  The  wisdom  of  Christ  is  the  prerogative  of  no 
special  age;  but  if  its  general  spirit  could  claim  any  as 
peculiarly  its  own,  would  it  not  be  among  the  young  it 
would  most  naturally  seek  its  disciples!  Christ  took  chil- 
dren in  his  arms  to  bless  them ;  you  are  baptized  as  infants 
that  there  may  be  no  delay  in  exercising  its  pledged  graces 
and  verifying  its  solemn  vows.  I  speak  for  Christian  edu- 
cation which  itself  is  built  upon  this  principle;  whose 
express  object,  wherever  it  is  rightly  conceived,  is  to  assist 
this  growth  in  grace,  to  sustain,  guard  and  cherish  it  by 
every  human  help.  What,  indeed,  seems  to  combine  more 
truly  the  loveliest  and  best  of  earth  and  heaven,  than  this 
simplicity  of  divine  wisdom  in  childhood  and  youth ;  this 
early  surrender  to  God  which  makes  the  life  of  nature  and 
of  grace  begin  almost  together ;  which  by  hallowing  every 
innocent  enjoyment  with  gratitude  to  its  Giver,  fits  almost 
for  heaven  the  mirth  itself  of  this  world,  where  mirth  is  so 
seldom  wholly  guiltless  ? 

And  now,  before  advancing  farther,  it  is  fit  to  mention 
to  you  (what  our  version  very  inaccurately  conveys)  that 
the  first  of  these  four  important  words  is  meant  to  embrace 
the  rest.    The  "righteousness,  sanctification,  and  redemp- 


24 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SERM.  I 


tion"  arc  the  ingredients  of  the  "wisdom;"  the  exact 
translation  of  the  original  being, — "who  is  made  unto  us  a 
wisdom  from  God  (in  contrast  to  the  false  wisdom  which  he 
had  censured)— even  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and 
redemption."  Christ  is  our  wisdom  in  being  to  us  these 
things;  that  is — lie  is  the  prime  object  of  all  true  wisdom 
inasmuch  as  lie  is  the  source  of  all  true  blessedness. 

This  blessedness,  we  see,  is  threefold;  and  one  word, 
Christ,  expresses  it  all.  I  have  no  intention  now  of  dilat- 
ing on  each  of  its  members ;  we  have  no  time  to  follow  the 
course  of  each  of  these  rivers  of  Paradise  as  they  flow,  and 
shall  for  ever  flow,  through  the  spirits  of  the  elect  of  God; 
I  pause  rather  by  the  Fountain ;  come  and  see  how  they 
issue  from  it. 

I  must  again  remind  you  to  weigh  well  the  force  of  the 
expression, — "is  made  unto  us."  Let  no  man  persuade 
you  that  this  can  be  satisfied  by  any  remote  or  indirect 
connection  with  Christ;  it  is  intimate  as  life  is;  He  himself 
is  made  to  us  the  thing  he  gives.  As  one  with  Ilim,  we 
obtain  the  whole  inheritance  of  Grace  and  Glory.  The 
instant  that  we  are  incorporated  into  the  mystical  body  of 
which  lie  is  the  head;  the  instant  in  which  we  are  made 
living  stones  of  the  temple  of  which  He  is  corner-stone ; 
the  instant  that  we  become  branches  of  that  celestial  vine, 
— that  instant  we  possess  the  seed  of  the  entire,  and  all  the 
life  of  the  Christian, — yea,  all  his  eternity  is  but  the  less  or 
greater  development  of  the  Christ  he  bears  within,  around, 
and  upon  him.  I  have  spoken  of  a  progress  of  blessings  ; 
it  is  a  progress  to  us  ;  but  not  in  the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
— to  receive  Him  is  to  receive  the  germ  of  every  blessing 
that  is  written  in  the  book  of  God.  One  with  Christ,  we 
must  have  pardon  ;  for  how  could  God  love  the  Head  and 
hate  tlie  Members  ?  One  with  Christ,  we  must  have  sanc- 
tification ;  for  how  could  He  that  is  boundlessly  pure  remain 
one  with  aught  that  is  wilfully  unholy  ?  One  with  Christ, 
we  must  have  the  prospective  redemption  of  the  whole  man 


SERM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


25 


to  glory;  for  hoAV  could  He  abandon  to  tte  everlasting 
grave  a  portion  of  His  own  being,  sucb  as  He  has  deigned 
to  make  us, — and  think  His  happiness  complete  ?  Thus  in 
blending  Himself  with  us,  "  He  hath  done  all  things  well ;" 
He  has  in  that  one  unfathomable  mystery  accomplished  all 
mysteries.  He  is — not  the  declarer  only,  or  the  means 
only,  or  the  instrument  only, — He  is  "  made  unto  us" — He 
hath  Himself  become — righteousness,  sanctification,  re- 
demption. We  have  justification  as  we  are  seen  in  Him ; 
we  have  sanctification  as  He  is  seen  in  us ;  we  have  in- 
creasing holiness,  and  mutual  communion,  and  ultimate 
redemption,  as  both  combine.  "Abide  in  me  and  I  in 
you. .  .He  that  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bring- 
eth  forth  much  fruit," — there  is  our  holiness.  "  As  thou, 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us" — there  is  our  bond  of  mutual  communion.  "  Ye 
are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God ;  when 
Christ  who  is  our  life  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  ajypear 
with  Him  in  ghry,^ — there  is  our  ultimate  redemption  of 
body  and  spirit  into  the  mansions  of  eternity.  Christ  re- 
appears in  all ;  for  all  the  New  Testament  theology  is  but 
different  perspective  views  of  the  one  unchangeable  object 
— the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ ;  seen  in  one  direction  it  is  Par- 
don, seen  in  another  it  is  Holiness,  seen  in  another  it  is 
Glory.  He  justifies  as  Christ  crucified  and  risen  without 
us ;  He  sanctifies  as  Christ  crucified  and  risen  within  us ; 
He  glorifies  in  virtue  of  both,  as  Christ  enthroned  in  the 
fulness  of  consummate  power,  and  at  length  "subduing  all 
things  unto  Himself."  Feel  and  know  this  as  it  ought  to 
be  felt  and  known ;  and  you  may  leave  the  rest  to  the 
schools.  These  are  days  of  harsh  disputings,  days  when 
men  are  very  bitter  to  each  other  for  the  love  of  God ;  I 
know  not  how  others  feel ;  but  it  seems  to  me  as  if, — could 
a  man  once  thoroughly  realize  to  himself  the  depth  of  this 
union  with  the  infinite  purity  of  Christ,  could  he  once 
realize  the  heaven  that  is  in  him  when  Christ  is  there,  could 
VOL.  II.— 3 


26 


Christ  the  Source  of 


[SERM.  I. 


lie  gaze,  not  to  question  and  criticise,  but  in  humble,  ador- 
ing joy,  upon  the  face  of  the  risen  Jesus,  and  there  but 
once  behold  his  own  "  acceptance  in  the  Beloved ;"  all 
difficulties  were  dissolved  in  that  blessed  vision,  every 
doubt  would  be  forgotten  in  the  fulness  of  its  glory !  Fix 
soul  and  spirit  steadily  upon  the  oneness  of  the  Son  of 
God  with  tlie  forgiven  and  adopted  sons  of  men,  and  all 
the  littleness  of  proud,  restless  disputation  will  disappear 
from  the  view,  consumed  in  the  blaze  of  that  transcendent 
thought.  "  He  is  made  unto  us  righteousness,  sanctilica- 
tion,  redemption  ;"  what  need  of  more  ?  For  all  the  prac- 
tical purposes  of  comfort  and  holiness,  what  need  of  more  ? 
Why  raise  troublous  and  perplexing  questions  as  to  precise 
dates  of  pardon  and  purification?  Receive  the  full  bless- 
ing of  Christ  by  faith,  and  in  His  ordinances;  and  these, 
and  "  all  things,"  are  yours ;  for  "  ye  are  washed,  ye  are 
sanctified,  ye  are  justified,  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  Alas,  that  with  something 
of  the  plain  simple-hearted  trust  with  which  in  the  Church's 
first  days  these  things  were  received,  we  could  learn  rather 
to  realize  the  truth  than  to  contend  about  its  nature  !  We 
have  a  glorious  inheritance,  and  instead  of  entering  in  and 
taking  possession,  we  fritter  away  our  short  allowance  of 
time  in  disputing  about  the  wording  of  the  title-deeds !  Oh 
miserable,  frivolous,  faithless  mockery !  Conceive  that,  in- 
stead of  receiving  the  sacramental  token  of  remission,  and 
hearing  or  reading  the  word  of  life,  you  stood  in  the  very 
light  of  the  vision  of  God ;  that  you  heard  His  own  blessed 
voice  pronounce  the  word  of  acceptance  that  translated  you 
from  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  and  made  you  one  with  Him 
in  His  divine  Son ;  that  thus  assured  and  thus  delighted, 
lost  in  inexpressible  gratitude — with  all  the  past  of  wretch- 
edness, all  the  present  and  future  of  glory,  pressing  upon 
the  soul ; — conceive,  I  say,  that  in  such  an  hour  you  were 
to  turn  to  the  blessed  Revealer,  and  tell  Him  you  could  not 
be  content  to  receive  or  enjoy  His  favors,  unless  He  should 


SERM.  I.] 


all  Blessings. 


27 


explain  witli  minuteness  the  precise  mode  in  which  this 
gift  of  himself  was  to  operate  upon  every  separate  faculty 
of  your  soul,  and  every  particular  relation  between  you 
and  Him  !  The  feeling  and  the  cry  of  faith  is — He  gives 
us  Christ,  and  in  Him  all  things.  Christ  cannot  be  ours 
and  any  grace  be  absent ;  this  King  cannot  enthrone  Him- 
self in  our  Spirit  and  not  bring  with  Him  his  whole  retinue 
of  blessings.  Blessings  may — they  must  arise  in  succession 
to  creatures  that  live  in  successive  time ;  but  the  first  instant 
that  Christ  is  ours,  the  seed  of  every  blessing  is  ours,  a  life 
of  sanctification  is  hidden  in  that  moment,  nay, — a  long 
perspective  of  infinite  glory  is  there, — death  is  conquered, 
Satan  chained,  and  Heaven  won  ;  for  He  who  accomplished 
all  these  things  "is  made  unto  ris  righteousness,  and  sancti- 
fication, and  redemption."  The  gift  is  ours,  let  it  expand 
as  it  will  in  our  heart  and  life ;  Christ  is  here,  and  He, 
the  "  Son  over  his  own  house,"  will  take  care  to  rule  it  in 
wisdom ;  in  having  Him  we  have  pardon,  in  having  Him 
we  have  holiness,  in  having  Him  we  have  heaven  itself, — • 
"  raised  up  together,  and  made  to  sit  together  in  heavenly 
places  in  Christ  Jesus." 

All  this  is  mysterious,  indeed  ;  of  course  it  is ;  who  is  he 
that  will  believe  God  made  one  with  man,  and  have  the 
union  wrought  without  mystery?  Children  of  the  living 
God !  ye  walk  in  mystery.  Your  spiritual  birth  is  a  mys- 
tery, your  fellowship  with  Christ  is  a  mystery,  your  daily 
graces  are  a  mystery,  your  triumph  and  death  is  a  mystery, 
your  resurrection  to  glory  will  be  but  the  consummation 
of  mystery.  Mystery  there  must  be  wherever  an  infinite 
Creator  and  his  finite  creature  embrace ;  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, your  glory  that  you  are  thus  robed  and  shrouded 
in  mystery.  Trust  no  one  who  would  draw  you  forth 
from  it ;  it  is  the  awful  shadow  which  eternity  casts  across 
time.  Believe  no  one  who  would  give  you  a  religion 
without  much  and  solemn  mystery ; — and  above  all,  when 
you  think  of  God  in  Christ,  of  what  He  has  done,  and 


28 


Christ  the  Source  of  all  Blessings.       [seem.  I. 


what  He  still  docs,  and  what  He  will  do,  be  well  assured 
that  in  all  Ilis  dealings  there  must  be  much  you  can  never 
expect  to  fathom ;  before  which,  therefore,  you  can  but 
bow  in  prostrate  humility  of  adoration ;.  knowing — simply 
knowing — that  all  He  will  do  He  can  do,  such  is  Ilis 
power ;  all  He  can  rightly  do  lie  will,  such  is  Ilis  love ! 
These  things  are  "known  in  part,"  and  therefore,  Av^e. can 
of  them  but  "  prophesy  in  part."  But  there  is  no  one  who 
knows  not  what  ought  to  be  the  practical  working  of  such 
a  faith.  He  is  all  things  to  us,  that  we  may  be  in  all 
things  Ilis.  He  is  to  us  "  righteousness,"  that  we  may 
rejoice  in  His  pardon  with  a  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  He  is 
to  us  "  sanctification,"  that  we  may  bear  the  fruits  of  His 
indwelling  Spirit;  He  is  to  vis  "redemption,"- that  we  may 
walk  in  white  as  being  "  worthy," — worthy  to  "  follow 
Him  whithersoever  He  goeth"  hereafter  in  glory,  as  follow- 
ing Him  whithersoever  He  goeth  in  sadness  and  suffering 
now.  Go  forth,  then,  ye  ransomed  ones,  and  remember 
that  you  bear  through  the  world  this  day  the  image  and 
superscription  of  Christ  Jesus;  in  whatever  company  of 
men  you  stand,  forget  not  that  His  signature  is  upon  you ; 
— and  when  men,  thoughtless  and  ungodly,  would  win  you 
from  His  service,  tell  them,  that  there  is  One  in  heaven 
with  whom  you  are  one,  that  you  live  as  members  of  His 
spiritual  frame,  incorporated  into  Him,  in  and  by  Him 
righteous,  sanctified,  redeemed;  and  that  being  thus  not 
your  own  but  His,  you  are  resolved,  whatever  the  dream- 
ing world  may  say,  in  Him  to  live  that  in  Him  you  may 
die, — in  Him  to  die  that  in  Him  you  may  live  for  ever  1 


SEHMON  II. 


LIVING  AND  DYING  UNTO  THE  LORD. 

For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto 
the  Lord. — Romans  xiv.  8. 

The  Christian  Church,  my  dearest  brethren,  is  now  ad- 
vanced through  many  ages  of  its  existence ;  but  from  its 
infancy  to  its  maturity,  that  natural  human  heart  on  which 
its  principles  have  had  to  operate,  has  continued  the  same. 
The  being  whom  we  find  around  us  in  the  daily  walks  of 
life  is  the  very  being  whom  we  meet  in  the  pages  of  the 
New  Testament: — the  passions, — the  hopes, — the  fears, — 
the  desires, — the  prejudices, — which  we  find  mirrored  in 
its  records,  might, — except  for  the  mere  peculiarities  of  cir- 
cumstance,— have  been  reflected  from  the  human  breast  of 
this  age,  as  well  as  from  that  of  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  this  identity,  indeed,  which  makes  the  little  volume  of 
the  New  Testament  so  invaluable  and  so  perpetual  a  guide 
to  the  sincere  disciple  of  Christ.  In  every  sentence  he  re- 
cognizes himself, — in  every  sentence  he  reads  his  own 
necessities,  supplies,  exhortations,  censures,  warnings : — the 
same  corruptions  which  are  noiv  leading  us  astray  are  there 
enumerated  and  exposed;  the  same  feebleness  met  and 
strengthened;  the  same  temptations  rebuked;  the  same 
Almighty  Spirit  promised ;  the  same  eternal  reward  sus- 
pended in  the  distance, — a  reward  of  which  it  can  only  be 
said  that  its  colors  are  angmenlcd  in  brilliancy  as  the  scene 
draws  nearer, — for  whatever  be  the  time  of  the  expected 

3* 


30 


Living  and  Dying 


[SEllM.  II. 


advent,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  "  now  is  our  salva- 
tion nearer  than  when"  they  (our  Christian  forefathers) 
"believed."  The  New  Testament  is,  then,  to  us  and  our 
successors  the  same  precious  inheritance  its  gospels  and 
epistles  and  prophecies  were  to  the  first  believers;  with, 
this  only  difference, — that  as  prophecy  gathers  to  fulfil- 
ment, as  the  shadowy  outlines  of  prediction  begin  to  fill 
and  flush  with  the  vivid  colors  of  fact,  the  story  of  Christ 
the  Redeemer  and  of  the  human  heart  as  acted  on  hj  Christ, 
— the  Bible  history  of  man, — becomes  still  more  authentic 
and  still  more  valuable.  Truly, — "  whatsoever  things  were 
written  aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning,  that  we 
through  patience  and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures,  might  have 
hope"  (Rom.  xv.  4)!  And  hence, — when  we  hear  men 
sighing  for  something  above  and  beyond  the  Scriptures, 
when  we  hear  them  demanding  "  infallible"  earthly  guid- 
ance,— ecclesiastical  oracles  who  are  to  be  the  sole  commis- 
sioned delegates  of  the  spirit  of  truth  to  mankind, — we  may 
well  censure, — not  merely  the  presumptuousness  of  the  re- 
quest (involving  a  secret  infidelity),  but  the  unhappy  mis- 
conception it  betrays  as  to  the  whole  purport  of  the  Scrip- 
ture revelation  itself.  Were  it  the  purpose  of  God  to  make 
us  the  cold  professors  of  a  system  of  theology  drawn  out 
into  long  deductions  and  fortified  at  all  points;  were  we  to 
be  (reversing  the  Apostle's  language)  "  able  ministers  of  the 
New  Testament,  not  of  the  spirit  but  of  the  letter," — such 
guidance  from  some  permanent  external  authority  might 
be  requisite,  for  such  guidance  is  certainly  in  a  very  limited 
degree  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament.  But  the  object 
of  the  Scripture  revelation  of  God  is  essentially  a  practical 
object ;  it  seldom  declares  truths,  except  so  far  as  they  are 
necessary  to  found  motives  and  directions  for  that  new  and 
spiritual  life  which  is  the  great  and  ultimate  end  of  the 
whole  as  a  revelation  of  God  to  man  . . .  Understood  in  this, 
its  true  light, — how  admirably  fitted  is  that  little  volume 
to  be  the  perpetual  directory  of  the  Church !    Over  and 


SEEM.  II.] 


unto  the  Lord. 


31 


above  the  preacliing  of  Christ  himself,  it  gives  us, — not 
merely  doctrines  of  belief,  nor  merely  precepts  of  conduct, 
but  ourselves  in  all  the  difficulties  of  trial  and  temptation  ! 
It  shows  us,  not  what  men  ought  to  do  solely, — but  what 
men  have  done  and  may  do.  It  brings  before  us  the  won- 
drous picture  of  that  infant  Church,  when  as  yet  fresh  from 
the  hand  of  God  it  breathed  of  its  origin, — when,  among 
the  thousands  it  already  included  through  some  of  the  most 
civilized  regions  of  the  earth,  but  one  heart  beat,  one  hope 
was  felt,  one  heaven  anticipated  :  and  while  thus  it  exhibits 
by  example  what  a  Christian  should  be, — in  what  Christians 
have  been,  teaches  us  to  sigh, — would  to  God  that  it  taught 
us  to  pray  and  to  labor  that  we  may  be  meet ! — for  the  re- 
turn of  that  golden  age  of  our  religion,  in  the  return  once 
more  to  earth,  of  Him  whose  omnipotent  Spirit  produced 
it! 

But  I  have  said,  that,  even  in  this  blessed  picture,  the 
New  Testament  story  exhibits  the  weaknesses  of  men  as 
truly  as  their  excellencies.  It  does,  and  in  this  lies  half  the 
value  of  the  record.  The  same  natural  tendency  to  pass 
from  a  high  and  inward  and  spiritual  religion  into  the  cold 
formalities  of  profession,  which  is  now  afllicting  the  Church 
(and  for  which  some  among  ourselves  have  attempted  so 
injudicious,  so  profitless,  a  remedy  in  external  separation, 
— as  if  the  work  of  "Christian  separation"  was  to  be 
wrought  by  the  coarse  machinery  of  external  observances, 
and  not  by  the  "  sword  of  the  Spirit"  rending  asunder  the 
ties  that  bind  the  world  and  the  heart) — is  found  already 
menacing  the  earliest  Churches  (in  which,  I  may  add,  no 
such  remedy  was  ever  prescribed); — the  same  occasional 
narrowness  of  mind  which  loses  the  substance  in  the  form 
of  godliness,  and  the  same  uncharitable  estimation  of 
minute  differences  in  comparison  with  the  great  principles 
of  faith  and  hope  and  love, — which  so  often  chill  the 
ardor  and  the  cordiality  of  Christian  communion  in  our 
own  days, — these  are  no  novelties  in  the  heart  of  man, — you 


32 


Living  and  Dying 


[SERM.  II. 


find  the  same  unhappy  tendencies  in  tlie  first  records  of  the 
Church  of  Christ, — restrained  and  suppressed,  indeed,  by 
the  overruling  authority  of  the  Apostles,  by  the  recent  and 
remembered  lessons  of  the  Saviour  himself,  and  perhaps, 
still  more,  by  the  pressure  of  external  persecution  which 
tightened  the  bonds  of  mutual  affection  among  these  exiles 
in  the  world ; — restrained,  1  say,  but  still  too  clearly  mani- 
fested in  this  principle,  and  too  surely  prepared  for  the 
Church  of  succeeding  ages ! 

In  the  chapter  from  which  the  passage  before  us  is 
extracted,  we  have  a  striking  instance  of  these  very  ten- 
dencies, as  well  as  of  the  Spirit  in  which  they  were  met 
and  remedied  by  the  inspired  guides  of  the  primitive 
Church. 

I  select  the  subject,  and  enlarge  upon  it ;  because  it  is 
specially  applicable  to  those  church-dissensions  of  our  own 
times,  in  which  an  erroneous  conscientiousness  has  driven 
from  the  field  of  our  communion  into  a  dreamy  sectarian- 
ism so  many  of  the  devoted  children  of  God ;  and  because 
in  extending  the  principle  here  developed  you  will  find  the 
simplest  example  and  guidance  for  the  determination  of 
your  own  course  in  similar  cases.  Observe  then, — in  refer- 
ence to  the  chapter  before  us. — The  first  believers,  gathered 
alike  from  the  two  Bible  divisions  of  the  world, — from 
Jews  and  Gentiles, — brought  into  the  new  religion  many  of 
the  prejudices  of  their  preceding  life.  Eminently  was  this 
observable  in  the  Jew,  who  educated  in  the  bondage  of  a 
strict  and  ceremonial  creed,  mistook  the  fetters  of  that 
bondage  for  the  badges  of  freedom,  and  could  not  endure 
to  believe  that  system  superseded  which  had  made  the 
boast  and  glory  of  his  nation.  Brought  up  in  the  shadowy 
twilight  of  preparatory  forms  and  observances,  the  Chris- 
tian Jew  could  not  bear  to  resign  these  cherished  privileges 
of  his  youth  ;  and  begged  hard  to  be  allowed  to  perpetuate 
these  shadows  even  under  the  now  orient  beams  of  the 
"  Sun  of  righteousness"  itself!   Feelings  whose  very  weak- 


SERM.  II.] 


unto  the  Lord. 


33 


ness  was  interesting  contributed  to  the  delusion.  For  ages 
the  glory  of  Israel  had  been  identified  with  its  law ;  the 
Jew  could  scarcely  feel  as  a  patriot  and  consent  to  desert 
it ;  his  hopes  for  the  future,  his  remembrances  of  the  past, 
were  interwoven  with  his  veneration  for  the  ceremonies 
and  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  code ;  to  forsake  it  were  to 
forsake  the  faith  of  his  ancestors, — the  faith  ennobled  by 
kings  and  consecrated  by  prophets, — nor  this  alone, — it 
were  to  desert  the  daughter  of  Zion  in  the  hour  of  her  mis- 
f(yrlune,  when  the  Pagan  spoiler  was  already  among  her 
palaces !  Judaism  had  become  eminently  a  political  reli- 
gion, it  held  the  sign  and  countersign  of  those  who  loved 
the  soil  of  Israel ;  to  meet  and  whisper  of  the  elder  glories 
of  Sinai  and  the  mystic  promises  of  prophecy,  had  become 
the  favorite  occupation  of  the  despised  and  degraded  Jew, 
whenever  he  could  evade  the  vigilance  of  the  detested  for- 
eigner whose  foot  polluted  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  These 
things  bound  him  to  the  creed  of  his  fathers, — but  speaking 
in  Ireland,  need  I  enlarge  upon  the  nature, — or  the  power, 
— or  the  prevalence, — or  the  misfortune,  of  such  misdirected 
though  not  unamiable  national  affections  in  retarding  the 
progress  of  free  discussion, — of  truth  and  of  reason  ? 

The  consequence  of  all  this,  when  the  great  revolution  of 
Christianity  took  place,  was  natural  and  inevitable.  The 
Christianized  Jew, — though  he  surrendered  (for  it  was  of 
the  very  essence  of  Christianity  to  do  so)  his  notion  of  the 
intended  eternity  of  the  Jewish  Law  of  ceremonies, — though 
he  admitted  that  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  Law  to  every  one 
that  believeth,"  that  in  Him  all  the  scattered  rays  of  type 
and  prophecy  converge  and  are  for  ever  lost, — yea  rather 
arc  fixed  and  eternalized, — yet  still  could  not  resist  his 
tendency  to  preserve  some  fragments  of  the  old  preparatory 
creed,  and  incorporate  them  into  the  spiritual  religion  of 
Christ.  The  abstinence  from  peculiar  meats,  the  observ- 
ance of  peculiar  days,  and  others  of  the  formal  traditions  of 
the  synagogue,  he  was  loathe  altogether  to  resign,  though 


34  Living  and  Dying  [SERM.  ll. 


lie  could  not  altogether  justify.. .Now  what  I  wish  you  to 
observe,  is  the  manner  in  which  the  Apostle  deals  with 
this  critical  question.  Arc  Jew  and  Gentile  to  be  severed 
for  this  difference? 

1.  llemark,  then,  that  St  Paul  feels  and  acknowledges 
the  diflference  that  separates  the  fundamental  question  of 
the  faith  of  Christ  from  those  of  merely  subordinate  import- 
ance. Upon  the  former  he  will  admit  no  compromise,  no 
compensation,  no  second  opinion.  That  Christ, — the  com- 
missioned Son  of  God,  and  himself  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh," — is  the  sole  hope  of  the  believer,  exclusive  of  all 
reference  to  human  merit;  that  if  man  will  be  just  before 
the  living  God,  it  is  only  in  and  through  Christ  that  he 
can  be  accepted  as  such ;  that  His  work  is  a  complete  work 
to  which  man  can  add  nothing,  but  from  which  man  receives 
everything ; — that  this  is  the  cardinal  fact  of  the  religion 
which  God  brought  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  that  in  this, 
as  in  a  germ,  is  enfolded  the  whole  glorious  story  of  eternity, 
— St  Paul  insists,  reiterates, — enforces.  Whatever  enfeebles 
this,  is  poison  to  the  very  vitals  of  the  truth ;  and,  there- 
fore, with  the  questioner  of  this  the  Apostle  will  hold  no 
parley.  "Am  I  not  an  Apostle?"  is  the  answer.  "Though 
we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any  other  Gospel  unto 
you  than  that  which  we  have  preached  unto  you,  let  him  be 
accursed !"  To  disbelieve, — or  to  corrupt, — this  doctrine, — 
would  be  to  neutralize  the  whole  blessed  work  of  God  to 
man ;  no  error,  then,  can  be  overlooked,  which  would  reduce 
or  qualify  the  Messiahship  of  Christ, — as  Prophet,  Priest, 
and  King,  to  his  people.  Upon  this  he  is  peremptory ; — 
upon  this,  in  the  very  spirit  and  energy  of  Christian  love,  we 
must  be  peremptory  likewise ! — God  grant  that  no  fear  of 
man  may  ever  unnerve  the  resolution  with  which  his 
ministers  shall  preach, — serene  among  the  contending 
errors  of  rival  sects, — that  consoling  doctrine  of  the  cross 
to  the  blood-bought  people  of  the  Eedeemer ! 

But  when  from  that  doctrine  which  is  the  corner  stone 


SERM.  II.] 


unio  the  Lord. 


35 


of  salvation,  the  same  Apostle  descends  to  the  harmless 
prejudices  of  the  ignorant  but  conscientious  Israelite, — the 
superfluous  zeal  of  the  feast-day  and  the  fast ; — when  from 
the  mighty  theme  of  the  dignity  and  the  office  of  Christ,  he 
comes,  as  in  the  chapter  before  us,  to  reconcile  the  prepos- 
sessions of  Jew  and  Gentile  about  their  favorite  ceremo- 
nies,— we  find  him  in  another  and  even  more  attractive  posi- 
tioUi  Of  his  own  opinion,  indeed,  as  to  the  value  of  such  re- 
strictions there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  abstainer  from  pecu- 
liar meat  is  "  weak  in  the  faith."  "  There  is  nothing,"  says  St 
Paul,  "  unclean  of  itself."  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat 
and  drink ;  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Yet — "  Let  not  him  that  eateth  despise  him  that 
eateth  not!" — "receiVe  him, — not  to  doubtful  disputations!" 
And  this  because  "to  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth." 
"  We  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the 
weak."  Nay,  if  our  happier  freedom  insult  or  distress  him, 
we  ought  to  sacrifice  our  very  freedom  for  his  sake: — for 
(ver.  21)  "it  is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh  nor  to  drink  wine, 
nor  anything  whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended, 
or  is  made  weak."  There  is  even  a  certain  respect  due  to 
an  unimportant  error,  when  it  takes  place  in  the  spirit  of 
devotion  to  God ; — that  common  spirit  sanctifies  all, — "  for 
none  of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself: 
— for  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  whether 
we  die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord :  whether  we  live,  therefore, 
or  die,  we  are  the  Lord's !"  (ver.  7,  8.) 

You  have  now  a  statement  of  the  disposition  with  which 
the  inspired  Apostle  regarded  errors  in  the  Church  of 
Christ, — a  spirit  so  widely  differing  from  that  which  has 
dictated  much  of  the  wild  enthusiastic  separatism  of  the 
present  day.  Do  I  err  when  I  would  reduce  it  to  the 
general  maxim, — that  in  the  cardinal  points  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  the  evidence  of  inspiration  should  determine  all ; 
that  in  the  minor  difierences  of  view  the  principle  of 
charity — wrought  in  us  by  that  very  belief  of  the  main 


86 


Living  and  Dying 


[SERM.  II. 


and  funtlamcntal  truths, — slionld  be  the  guiding  stcar,  and 
everything  gently  dealt  with,  which,  without  impeaching 
the  purity  of  the  faith,  is  done  in  the  Spirit  of  devotion  to 
that  Christ  Avho  is  "  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living"  ? 

We  have  seen  the  occasion  of  this  maxim,  in  which  St 
Paul  thus  passes  from  outward  forms  to  the  inward  and 
Spiritual  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  heart; — let  us  rest  for  a 
moment  upon  the  maxim  itself.  "  Whether  we  live,  we 
live  unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the 
Lord." 

The  "  Lord"  here  spoken  of  is  at  once  Christ  and  God ; 
as  is  manifest  from  the  ninth  verse,  where  Christ  is  iden- 
tified with  the  "Lord  of  the  dead  and  the  living," — from 
the -tenth  verse,  where  He  is  declared  to  be  the  supreme 
Judge  of  the  world, — and  finally  from  the  eleventh,  where 
the  Apostle,  to  establish  that  title,  directly  applies  to  Christ 
that  solemn  declaration  of  the  forty-fifth  of  Isaiah,—"  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  else;  unto  Me  every  knee  shall 
bow,  every  tongue  shall  swear !"  The  God,  then,  to  whom 
this  utter  and  unreserved  surrender  of  the  heart  is  re- 
quired, is  the  God  who  was  revealed  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and 
who,  by  the  mysterious  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures,  has  consecrated  the  one  by  the  other,  and  for  ever 
reconciled  both! 

Unto  him,  as  Christians,  we  are  called  upon  to  live;  He 
who  is  the  principle  of  our  spiritual  life  is  also  made  the 
object  of  it ;  as  the  vapors  of  the  ocean  supply  the  rivers 
that  return  into  the  ocean  itself.  Unto  him,  as  Christians, 
we  are  called  upon  to  die ;  He  who  died  for  us,  is  made 
the  object  of  our  death  likewise ;  that  as  "  our  life  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,"  so  "  when  he  who  is  our  life  shall 
appear,  then  we  also  may  appear  with  him  in  glory." . . . 
No  reserve,  you  hear,  is  admitted  in  the  statement  of  our 
profession ;  we  live  and  die  to  Christ ;  our  whole  nature,  in 
all  its  aspects  and  positions,  is  offered  to  him,  as  one 
solemn  and  perpetual  sacrifice  ;  "bought  with  a  price,"  we 


SERM,  II.] 


unto  the  Lord. 


37 


are  delivered  to  him  as  his  own  spiritual  property  in  this 
world ;  "  we  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's," — so  that,  as 
it  were,  through  him,  as  man,  we  pass  into  the  very  pre- 
sence of  the  Supreme  Divinity,  enter  within  the  verge  of 
that  ineffable  Nature  with  which  he  connects  us,  and  catch 
upon  our  weak  and  shivering  humanity  the  beams  of  the 
everlasting  light  of  God  ! 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  enter  into  explanation  of 
the  meaning  of  phrases  too  manifest  for  elucidation.  "  To 
live  unto  God"  cannot  but  be  understood  by  all  who  re- 
member that  at  every  hour  of  life  they  are  in  truth  "  living 
unto"  some  object  or  other,  whether  it  be  worthy  or  un- 
worthy the  affections  of  a  human  heart.  To  some  object 
their  nature  is  consecrated,  to  some  object  the  living  sacri- 
fice of  the  soul  is  perpetually  presented.  It  is  the  very 
condition  of  our  being,  the  most  simple  and  the  most  uni- 
versal of  all ;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  Apostle  employs  as 
the  common  character  of  the  renovated  heart  the  quality 
of  the  object  it  embraces.  In  this  very  assembly  the  same 
sovereign  test  is  applicable, — is  even  now  applied  by  the 
all-perceiving  Spirit  of  God.  He  can  tell, — what  I  dare 
not  pronounce, — whether  even  in  this  hour  of  prayer  and 
penitence  you  have  truly  "  lived  unto  God ;"  and  how  far 
the  heaven  of  your  secret  hopes  and  supplications  is  that 
heaven  which  he  has  promised  to  his  believing  children, — 
that  heaven  of  which  it  is  the  highest  and  holiest  character 
that  "  the  life  unto  him"  is  there  immortal ! 

What,  then,  is  it  to  "  live  unto  God  ?"  "What  is  it  but 
to  return  Him  his  own  rights  in  the  human  heart ;  to  con- 
centrate on  Him  those  affections  which  originally  were 
formed  for  Him  alone  ?  What  is  it  but  to  know  and  feel 
that  even  while  this  shadowy  world  encompasses  us,  there 
is  around  and  above  it  a  scene  real,  substantial,  and  eternal; 
a  scene  adequate, — and  at  this  moment  adequate, — to  an- 
swer all  the  ardent  longings  of  our  bereaved  souls, — a 
scene  in  which  every  holier  affection,  widowed  and  blighted 
VOL.  II.— 4 


88 


Liviit.rj  and  Dying 


[SERM.  II. 


here,  is  to  be  met  and  satisfied!  ....  To  live  in  this  belief, 
— this  hope;  to  read  in  the  death  of  Christ  death  itself  lost 
in  immortality ;  to  make  the  God  of  tlie  New  Testament 
the  Friend,  the  Companion,  the  Consoler,  of  all  earthly 
sorrow;  to  feel  the  brightest  colors  of  ordinary  life  fade  in 
"  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed," — this  is  to  live  the  "life," 
that  heralds  the  immortality,  "unto  God!" 

The  immortality  unto  God!  For  this  is  the  heaven  of 
the  Christian.  "  Whether  we  live,"  says  the  Apostle — and 
heaven  is  the  eternal  life, — "  we  live  unto  God !"  Brethren ! 
beloved  brethren !  have  we  learned  to  desire  an  eternity 
such  as  this?  I  have  endeavored  to  speak  to  you  plainly; 
I  will  make  an  effort  to  be  yet  more  distinct.  .  .  .  Let  us 
suppose  that  by  some  supernatural  agent  an  offer  were 
suddenly  made  to  each  of  us,  of  at  once  being  admitted 
into  the  immediate  presence  of  God  in  Heaven  I  Remem- 
bering what  the  laws  are  by  which  that  abode  of  blessed- 
ness is  governed, — remembering  the  strict  and  undeviating 
purity  which  it  is  represented  as  exacting  from  all  who 
are  its  residents, — remembering  that  a  God  who  cannot 
endure  iniquity  is  there  more  immediately  present  to  his 
creatures,  both  in  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  in 
the  clearer  revelation  opened  to  the  minds  of  the  Blest 
with  regard  to  God's  character  and  dealings, — remembering 
that  this  kingdom  of  everlasting  righteousness  is  only 
known  to  us  by  the  plain  intimation  that  its  whole  tone  of 
existence  is  opposed  to  all  that  is  scripturally  called  "  the 
"World," — and  that  a  breath  of  unholiness  cannot  be  suf- 
fered to  taint  its  atmosphere  of  perfect  peace,  holding  all 
this  in  mind  as  the  true  portraiture  of  the  Heaven  of  the 
New  Testament, — I  ask  you,  whether,  with  hearts  whose 
every  pulsation  beats  for  worldly  interests,  with  affections 
that  not  (on  perhaps  only  too  favorable  a  calculation)  for 
one  half  hour  in  the  twenty-four  are  really  lifted  from  the 
dust  of  the  path  on  which  we  are  together  creeping  to  the 
grave, — with  hopes  that  never  were  taught  to  stray  beyond 


SERM.  II.] 


unto  the  Lord. 


39 


the  clouds  of  this  world's  foul  atmosphere, — with  all  your 
busy  dreams  about  you  (for  we  walk  in  visions)  in  none  of 
which  do  Heaven  or  its  God  find  a  moment's  place — ^Chris- 
tians !  I  ask  you,  would  you  unhesitatingly  rejoice  in  the 
offer  ?  I  do  not  ask  you  whether  you  would  assent  with 
your  lips  to  the  proposal ;  for,  associating  as  we  do  Heaven 
with  Happiness,  perhaps  no  one  would  deliberately  and 
verbally  refuse  it ; — but  I  ask  you,  Avhether,  with  that 
spring  and  rapture  of  the  heart  which  a  great  worldly  pros- 
perity brings,  you  would  (bearing  in  mind  the  true  nature 
of  the  change)  grasp  at  the  proposal,  and  call  aloud  for 
death  to  open  the  gate  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  "Would 
your  inmost  Soiil  accept  the  change  ?  Would  you  agree 
to  cast  aside  all  the  hopes  and  enjoyments  of  your  state  in 
this  life,  to  be  the  calm  and  peaceful  Adorer  of  the  world 
to  come  ?  Even  to  the  afflicted  I  might  ask — would  they 
accept  peace  on  such  conditions  as  the  peace  of  God  im- 
poses ?  Alas !  few  can  sincerely  answer  that  they  would. 
The  heaven  of  the  gospel  is  no  heaven  to  those  who  have  not 
learned  the  holiness  of  the  gospel.  Is  not  the  test,  then, 
simple  and  decisive  ?  Can  we  deem  that  we  are  "  living 
unto  God"  in  this  world,  if  we  shrink  with  dread  from  the 
notion  of  uving  unto  him  in  another,  and  living  unto  him 
forever  ? 

What  indeed  is  the  Heaven  of  every  man  but  the  con- 
ceived realization  of  his  own  cherished  wishes?  As  this 
ideal  happiness  varies,  "Heaven"  (which  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  its  ultimate  completion)  correspondingly  varies. 
Accordingly,  if  you  listen  to  the  confidences  of  any  man, 
you  will  infallibly  detect  in  what  quarter  his  Heaven  is 
situated.  It  is  a  pole  to  which  the  magnet  of  his  mind 
perpetually  trembles.  Thus  it  is  that  the  world  is  filled 
with  a  thousand  forgeries  of  heaven,  the  illusion  of  that 
Deceiver  who  spreads  out  these  phantoms  of  happiness  to 
hide  the  yawning  portals  of  ruin  behind  them  !  And  hard 
indeed  is  the  work  of  the  servant  of  Christ,  among  all 


40 


Living  and  Dying 


[SERM.  II. 


these  gaudy  visions  of  flushed  and  passionate  pleasures, 
to  secure  even  a  glance  at  the  cold  outlines  of  the  heaven 
he  proposes.  In  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  impassioned 
visionaries,  he  feels  how  unwelcome  is  his  intrusion. 
When  every  mind  is  encompassed  with  its  own  favorite 
scenery,  how  can  he  with  his  fond  anticipations  of  spiritual 
enjoyments  expect  even  the  refuse  of  men's  thoughts  ? 
Will  the  walls  of  a  church  transform  the  souls  and  bodies 
of  the  listeners, — that  those  who  are  worldly  and  sensual 
up  to  its  doors,  shall  enter  them  disengaged,  and  prepared 
to  hear  of  eternal  purity  ?  We  may  crowd  the  temples  of 
the  Most  High,  but  is  it  not  too  often  as  those  whom  the 
Prophet  saw  in  the  midst  of  the  holy  places  ;  the  visions  of 
our  idolatry  accompany  us  even  into  the  house  of  the  liv- 
ing God;  and  though  we  kneel  as  in  adoration  our  busy 
hearts  neglect  to  adore,  and  we  are  still, — "  every  man  in  the 
chambers  of  his  imagery  /"...God  grant  to  us  a  strong  desire 
to  live  the  "life  unto  God," — by  patience  and  faith  "  to  walk 
as  seeing  the  Invisible," — to  yearn  after  that  devotion  of 
heart  and  soul  unto  him,  which,  begun  in  this  world,  shall 
be  perfected  and  consummated  in  the  world  of  eternal 
peace ! 

To  that  world  you  know  the  passage.  The  Apostle  has 
not  neglected  to  state  it.  "  Whether  we  die,  we  die  unto 
the  Lord." 

When  he  wrote,  there  was  a  touching  earnestness  in  the  • 
expression.  Surrounded  by  persecution  and  distress,  not 
certain  but  the  next  hour  might  bring  the  stake  or  the 
lions,  the  Apostle  could  indeed  speak  of  death  as  a  familiar 
theme.  But  he  had  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  it  with 
a  welcoming  eye.  "  To  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is 
gain."  He  could  declare  himself  desirous  "  to  be  absent 
from  the  body,  and  present  with  the  Lord  :" — "  to  be  with 
Christ,  which  was  far  better."  And  oh !  brethren, — to  us 
also,  who,  with  whatever  preparation  of  heart,  must  pass 
through  that  tremendous  hour,  which  no  imagination  can 


SEEM,  II.] 


wito  the  Lord. 


41 


anticipate  and  whicli  none  can  return  to  tell  of, — to  us  wlio 
must  eacti  in  loneliness  tread  that  valley  of  the  shadow- 
where  the  friend  dearest  and  most  devoted  can  no  longer 
accompany  us, — to  us  is  it  not  also  fitting  to  be  preached 
that  we  should  make  it  the  lesson  of  life,  "  to  die  unto  the 
Lord"  ?  To  the  Christian  who  is  worthy  of  the  name,  I 
need  not  tell  you  that  that  hour  which  fancy  invests  with 
so  fearful  a  gloom,  is  indeed  radiant  with  a  life  from  heaven, 
a  light  beseeming  the  birth-day  of  eternity !  He  "  dies 
unto  the  Lord,"  because  his  earnest  trust  in  a  reconciled 
God  has  taught  him  to  gladly  yield  his  life  where  he  had 
long  yielded  his  heart  and  hopes.  He  "dies  unto  the  Lord," 
because  he  feels  that  such  a  death  is  the  crowning  act  of 
that  sacrifice  which  it  is  his  whole  desire  to  make  of  him- 
self to  his  eternal  Master.  He  "  dies  unto  the  Lord,"  be- 
cause he  has  long  since  lived  untp  the  Lord,  in  dying  unto 
the  world !  Above  all, — he  "dies  unto  the  Lord," — because 
he  knows  that  death  is  but  the  passage  into  a  wider  scene 
of  service,  a  more  transcendent  and  more  abiding  scene  for 
the  exercise  of  his  revived, — his  thence  for  ever  undying 
energies,  in  the  cause,  and  to  the  glory,  of  God : — because 
he  knows  that  no  servant  of  Christ  passes  from  this  world 
into  a  heaven  of  lethargy  and  superannuation,  but  into  a 
scene  of  busy  happiiiess,  where  new  faculties  are  given  for 
new  purposes, — where  the  spiritual  mind  is  strengthened 
to  will,  and  the  spiritual  frame  is  strengthened  to  act,  with 
redoubled  powers  in  the  service  of  the  Creator, — and 
where,  therefore,  to  "die  unto  the  Lord"  is  to  assume  a  new 
and  better  life, — to  live  unto  the  Lord,  and  through  the 
Lord,  and  for  the  Lord,  and  icilli  the  Lord, — for  ever  and 
ever! 


4* 


SERMON  III. 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  AND  THE  CHARITIES  OF  LIFE. 

It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  wo  shall  be  :  but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. — 1  Joun  iii.  1. 

Coming  before  you  this  day,  my  hretliren,  to  appeal  to 
your  Christian  sympathies  on  behalf  of  poverty  and  or- 
phanage, I  know  no  other  artifice  of  persuasion  than  to 
exhibit  the  simplicity  of  Christian  motives.  To  advocate 
the  claims  of  those  who  are  thus  compelled  to  be  annual 
dependants  on  your  benevolence,  I  have  no  magic  of  elo- 
quence beyond  that  which  speaks  of  your  own  free  and 
unmerited  prerogatives  in  a  Saviour  ; — to  plead  the  cause 
of  poverty  I  have  no  resource  but  to  point  to  your  wealth 
in  "  the  riches  of  Christ ;" — to  plead  for  destitution  I  can 
only  speak  of  him  who  has  said  to  each  confiding  disciple, 
— "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee," — to  plead  for 
orphanage,  I  can  but  echo  that  voice  which  whispered  on 
the  night  of  betrayal,  "  I  will  not  leave  yon.  orphans ;" — to 
plead  for  those, — young  and  untaught, — whose  boon  for 
eternity  you  may  be  instrumental  in  saving  this  day  from 
being  blighted  for  eternity,  I  have  no  better  rhetoric  than 
to  speak  of  the  splendors  of  that  everlasting  inheritance 
which  the  Victor  of  Calvary  has  won  for  them  and  for  you, 
that  divine  country  to  which  you  profess  to  be  travellers, 
and  the  way  to  which  you  will  surely  not  refuse  to  facili- 
tate for  these  weaklings  of  the  flock  of  Christ ;  that  region 


SERM.  III.]    The  Rope  of  Olory  and  the  Charities  of  Life.  43 

of  which  all, — or  the  highest  that  is  directly  revealed  to 
us,  is, — that  its  blessedness  consists  essentially  in  reflecting 
the  image  of  a  God  of  charity,  and  that,  though  it  be  not 
distinctly  declared  "  what  we  shall  be,"  it  is  yet  a  fixed  and 
transcendent  truth, — written  beyond  the  stars, — that  we 
shall  resemble,  because  we  shall  see  in  his  genuine  glory, 
the  God  of  the  New  Testament,  the  God  visible  in  Christ 
Jesus,  whose  title,  and  whose  essence,  is  Love  ! 

May  God  grant  to  us, — or  confirm  in  us, — this  morning, 
hearts  that  rejoice  in  such  a  hope;  hearts  that  need,  that 
exult  in,  such  a  consolation  !  If  such  be  the  blessed  frame 
of  those  I  address  this  day,  few  of  the  innocent  stratagems 
of  the  pulpit  will  be  necessary  to  insinuate  benevolence,  or 
surprise  into  charity.  Such  a  confidence, — unlike  the  pros- 
perity of  this  world,  which  hardens  the  heart, — will  mould, 
and  soften,  and  attemper  it;  such  joy  (mysterious  interac- 
tion of  the  Christian  graces!)  is  itself  full  of  boundless 
sympathy  with  every  form  of  sorrow;  such  anticipations, 
while  they  hang  upon  the  far  horizon  of  eternity  and  dwell 
upon  its  dawning  light  with  rapture,  lose  from  their  view 
no  one  humble  point  of  the  intervening  world,  but  can 
take  into  one  loving  glance  the  coming  glory  and  the 
present  grief, — yea,  can  illumine  the  one  by  the  other,  and 
see  the  sorrow  better  for  the  light  beyond  it,  and  know  it 
more  deeply  for  the  glory  it  contrasts,  and  shed  those  very 
tears  of  joy  which  heaven  calls  forth,  as  tears  of  affliction 
too  for  the  misery  and  the  misfortunes  of  earth.  Oh  I  if 
amid  this  multitude  of  eternal  souls  whom  I  now  address, 
there  be  any, — I  would  fain  hope  there  are  not  a  few, — to 
whom  these  words  are  more  than  words, — who  recognize 
this  blessed  connection  of  our  highest  hopes  in  heaven  with 
our  tenderest  charities  in  earthly  life, — they  at  least  will 
not  disappoint  my  labors  this  day,  when  pleading  for 
helplessness  and  poverty,  I  would  speak  of  that  world 
where  the  "poor  in  spirit"  are  rich  in  glory;— when  calling 
on  you  to  assist  the  ministers  of  God  in  deepening,  under 


44 


The  Uope  of  Glory  and  [SEim.  III. 


Christ,  his  image  on  his  fallen  creatures,  I  would  discuss 
the  nature  or  the  process  of  that  assimilation  which  is  (as 
the  text  asserts)  to  transform  us  so  wonderously  hereafter; — 
when,  telling  you  of  your  duties  to  these  orphaned  little 
ones  of  the  Christian  family,  I  would  lift  the  lowly  argu- 
ment upon  a  higher  basis,  and  take  my  stand  upon  the 
mount  of  God ! 

St  John  in  the  passage  before  us  is  performing  the  work 
of  a  Consoler,  lie  alludes, — and  it  is  but  passingly, — to 
the  friendless  position  of  his  fellow-saints  in  this  world. 
They  were  persecuted,  it  seems,  because  they  were  not 
understood.  They  spoke  a  dialect  of  motives  and  feelings 
which  the  world  around  them  could  not  translate  into  any 
received  phraseology;  nay,  the  more  intelligible  language 
of  their  lives  was  little  less  misinterpreted.  Their  purity 
was  called  impure;  their  meekness  was  said  to  be  the  cloak 
of  conspiracy  and  murder.  They  sighed  under  the  pres- 
sure of  these  cruel  calumnies.  "The  world  knoweth  us 
not,"  said  St  John,  But  he  adds  the  solution.  He  extends 
the  ignorance,  that  he  may  acquit  its  objects.  The  world 
knoweth  us  not,  because  it  knew  IIiM  not."  Marvel  not  if 
the  world  hate  you.  Forget  not  the  words  of  the  Master 
himself, — "If  the  world  hate  you,  ye  know  that  it  hated  me 
before  it  hated  you."  ,  ,  .  "I  have  chosen  you  out  of  the 
world,  therefore  the  world  hateth  you."  Glory  in  these  con- 
secrated tribulations!  You  are  identified  with  him  in  his 
acceptance  by  the  world,  as  you  are  identified  with  him  in 
Tjour  acceptance  before  the  Father;  this  prophecy  of  your 
sufferings, — surely  it  was  not  a  threat  to  dread  but  a 
promise  to  welcome,  since  you  share  its  terrors  with  Him; 
he,  the  Martyr-Conqueror  of  Sin,  would  have  you  also  to 
take  your  Gethsemanes  and  your  Calvaries  on  the  road  to 
glory  1 

But  there  is  more  than  this.  "We  are  now,"  adds  the 
Apostle  of  love, — "  we  are  now,  beloved,  the  sons  of  Qod^ 
United  as  we  are  with  our  Master  in  the  world's  contempt, 


SERM.  III.] 


the  Charities  of  Life. 


45 


the  language  of  heaven  has  united  us  in  title.  As  He  was 
crucified  for  the  world,  so  are  we  crucified  to  the  world ; 
while  on  the  other  hand, — as  He  was  the  Son  of  God  by 
that  mysterious  and  eternal  filiation  which  no  created 
nature  has  ever  held  or  can  hold,  so  are  we  permitted  from 
our  dust  to  claim  a  shadowy  image  of  that  unfathomable 
relationship,  and  to  recognize  a  Father  in  the  Father  of  our 
Lord.  "I  go,"  said  he,  as  he  looked  his  last  farewell  upon 
his  beloved — "I  go  to  my  Father  and  to  your  Father." 
And  though  no  human  nature  could  bear,  unconsumed  by 
its  fires  divine,  the  love  with  which  the  Father  surrounds 
that  Son  who  is  "the  brightness  of  his  glory,"  yet  even  of 
this  we  receive  our  human  transcript;  nor  was  the  Blessed 
One  jealous  of  his  own  place  in  the  bosom  of  the  Parent 
God  when  he  made  it  the  dearest  object  of  his  parting  sup- 
plication,— ^"that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  loved 
them  as  thou  hast  loved  me."  .  .  .  Well  might  the  Apostle, 
— practised  as  he  was  in  the  story  of  celestial  love, — 
exclaim  in  rapture  and  astonishment, — "Behold  what  man- 
ner of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we 
should  be  called  the  sons  of  God ! " 

"Beloved,"  proceeds  the  Apostle, — "noty  are  we  the  sons 
of  God."  We  have  no  empty  title  unattended  with  real 
dignities  and  real  privileges ;  we  are  not  only  "  called"  (as 
in  the  preceding  verse)  but  we  "  are"  the  children  of  heaven. 
We  are  not  merely  invested  with  our  rank  by  adopting 
favor,  but  we  are  in  the  exercise  of  our  privileges  by 
regenerating  grace.  This  is  even  noru  the  dignity  freely 
accorded  to  the  poor  and  persecuted  disciple  in  the  invisi- 
ble empire  of  God.  The  title  may  be  smiled  at  by  the 
principalities  of  earth ;  but  it  is  registered  with  honor  in 
the  archives  of  immortality. — Christian  brethren,  assembled 
•this  morning  under  the  eye  of  God!  do  you  indeed  feel  by 
an  inward  testimony  which  none  can  gainsay,  that  there  is 
a  copy  of  this  entry  written  in  your  own  hearts?  Know 
you  the  blessedness  of  those  first  faint  whispers  of  peace 


46 


The  Hope  of  Ohry  and  [SERM.  III. 


and  hope,  that  tell  how  truly  changed  is  the  relation  in 
which  a  spirit  stands  to  the  Father  of  Spirits?  that  em- 
bolden you  to  draw  nearer  the  throne  than  of  old  time,  and 
to  mingle  your  voices,  no  longer  discordant,  among  the 
harmonies  of  heaven  ?  Believe  it, — this, — the  tender,  timid, 
yet  confiding  love  of  the  forgiven  child, — is  the  surest 
character  and  attestation  of  our  adoption  into  the  divine 
family — "Because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father." 

Such  is  the  scenery  of  earth ;  but  the  Christian  can  look 
beyond  even  a  redeemed  and  regenerated  earthliness.  The 
holy  ambition  of  his  love  will  not  be  contented  with  peace 
itself, — though  it  be  a  peace  passing  all  understanding, — 
as  long  as  a  veil  is  hung  between  him  and  the  presence  of 
his  God.  But  oh!  may  I  not  now  say  with  my  Master,  to 
those  whose  scanty  experience  of  the  Christian  life  the  faint 
representations  I  have  offered,  overpass, — "If  I  have  told 
you  of  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall  ye 
believe,  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things?" 

"  It  doth  not  yet  appear,"  says  St  John, — "  it  hath  not 
yet  been  manifested, — what  ive  shall  5e."  This  expression 
might  perhaps  be  added  as  some  contribution  to  the  views 
of  those  who  date  our  Epistle  before  the  period  of  the 
Apocalypse ;  in  the  latter  pages  of  which  so  transcendent 
(though  figurative)  a  picture  is  sketched  of  at  least  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  blessed  state  : — and  it  might  possibly  be 
conjectured  that  the  beloved  Apostle  had  already  received 
some  intimation  of  the  honor  which  was  intended  him  as 
chosen  interpreter  of  heaven,  and  at  the  time  he  addressed 
this  precious  letter  to  the  churches  was  waiting  in  holy 
expectancy  beside  the  gate  of  vision, — waiting  till  "  in  the 
spirit  on  the  Lord's  Day"  he  should  "  hear  behind  him  a 
great  voice  as  of  a  trumpet," — and  "  behold,  a  door  opened 
in  heaven,"  and  one  which  said,  "  Come  up  hither,  and  I 
will  show  thee  things  which  must  be  hereafter !"  .  .  .  "  It 
hath  not  yet  been  manifested,  what  we  shall  be." 


SERM,  III.] 


the  Charilies  of  Life. 


47 


But  as  this  is  at  least  but  conjectural, — and  as  the  ac- 
counts in  the  Book  of  Revelations  are,  after  all,  rather 
accounts  of  the  external  circumstances  of  blessedness,  than 
(except  occasionally)  of  its  interior  character; — let  us  for 
a  moment  pause  upon  the  words  of  the  prophet  thus  for  a 
season  disclaiming  prophecy,  and  contemplate  why  it  is 
that  in  its  fulness  of  glory  "  it  hath  not  yet  been  manifested 
what  we  shall  be." 

In  this  respect,  as  you  know,  "  the  Apostle  and  High 
Priest  of  Oiir  profession"  stands  alone.  He  is  no  lavish 
painter  of  his  celestial  treasures.  As  the  blessed  Arch- 
bishop of  Cambray  said, — this  king  is  too  accmiomed  to 
the  splendors  of  his  palace  to  dilate  upon  them.  But  how 
profound  a  character  is  this  of  truth !  Of  all  artifices  to 
secure  success  the  gratification  of  this  curiosity  about  the 
unknown  world,  is  (next  to  the  gratification  of  present 
licentiousness, — if  even  second  to  it)  the  most  obvious,  and 
the  most  powerful.  But  the  serene  security  of  Omnipo- 
tence was  above  the  employment  of  such  seductions.  He 
left  it  to  the  impostor  of  the  East, — alas,  that  we  should 
add,  he  left  it  to  the  lying  legends  of  that  superstition 
which  corrupted  his  own  blessed  faith,  to  devise  those  ela- 
borate portraitures  of  the  coming  world  in  which  heaven 
is  formed  on  the  model  of  earth,  and  glory  is  degraded  to 
man,  not  man  elevated  to  glory  I  AYith  him  who  came 
from  thence  to  bring  us  thither,  who  even  as  he  wandered 
upon  earth  was  still  "  the  Son  of  man  who  is  in  heaven" — 
it  was  no  labyrinth  of  verdure  and  softness,  of  roseate 
bowers  and  unclouded  skies ;  it  was  "  the  kingdom  of  the 
Father;"  it  was  the  vision  of  God  through  purity  of  heart; 
it  was  not  "  to  marry  or  to  be  given  in  marriage,"  but  to 
possess  "  eternal  life ;"  it  was  above  all  "  to  eat  and  drink 
at  his  table  in  his  kingdom ;"  it  was  to  receive  the  redeemed 
"  unto  himself,  that  where  he  was,  there  they  might  be  also." 
As  he  taught  us,  it  seemed  that  the  graces  he  preached  were 
not  merely  the  way  to  glory,  but  the  very  elements  of  it, — 


48  TIlc  Ilope  of  Glory  and  [serm,  hi. 

its  primary  notions  were  built  upon  spiritual  not  sensible 
experiences,  it  presupposed  such  a  cliange  to  be  itself  in- 
telligible. As  he  seemed  to  state  it,  the  life  of  God  here 
was  the  antechamber  to  an  eternity  of  God  hereafter ;  here 
were  to  be  learned  the  alphabet  and  rudiments  of  the 
language  which  was  to  be  employed  for  everlasting.  The 
promised  world  was  but  the  full  unveiling  of  that  Sun  by 

whose  clouded  light  the  Christian  walks  in  this  Nor  even 

in  their  boldest  pictures,  and  in  the  use  of  figures  that  sen- 
sibly symbolize  things  invisible,  did  the  Apostles  once 
waver  from  the  same  high  principle ; — a  beautiful  (though 
less  obvious)  mark  of  the  secret  unity  of  inspiration.  On 
the  one  hand  it  was  declared  that  "  the  working  by  which 
Christ  was  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself"  was  to  ex- 
tend to  the  hody^  which  was  to  be  changed  into  the  simili- 
tude of  His  pure  and  spiritual  frame ;  while  on  the  other, 
— if  physical  pain  was  said  to  be  excluded,  it  was  excluded 
(as  you  may  observe  in  tracing  the  instances  for  yourselves) 
imj)licitly,  and  less  in  itself  than  as  the  dark  shadow  that 
waits  on  sm,  to  which  it  is  bound  by  a  terrible, — an  irrevo- 
cable necessity.  Nay,  so  complete  is  this  superiority  to 
merely  physical  gratifications,  that  our  own  St  John, — he 
who  at  one  time  symbolically  speaks  of  the  foundations  of 
amethyst,  the  streets  of  gold,  and  the  gates  of  pearl, — when 
he  would  indeed  spring  to  the  full  height  of  the  theme, 
discards  all  the  glories  of  the  material  world,  rejects  as  un- 
worthy adornings  the  proudest  group  of  Nature's  daily  and 
nightly  magnificence,  to  bury  himself  in  the  depths  of  a 
purely  spiritual  illumination, — and  tells  us,  that  "  the  City 
had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it,  for 
the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof  I" 

Here  then  is  in  itself  an  answer  to  our  question.  "  It  is 
not  yet  fully  manifested  what  we  shall  be,"  because  that 
which  we  shall  be  is  incapable  of  direct  manifestation  by 
sensible  imagery: — or, — in  another  aspect  of  the  same 


SERM.  III.] 


the  Charities  of  Life. 


49 


truth, — because  "that  which  we  shall  be"  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pressed as  severed  from  the  whole  course  and  current  of 
Christian  joy ;  it  is  not  separately  manifested  because  every- 
where manifested ;  because  every  exhortation  to  humility, 
and  joy,  and  love,  is  an  exhortation  to  heaven  itself, — and 
every  congratulation  upon  the  attainment  of  such  blessed 
emotions,  is  a  congratulation  upon  having  already  arrived 
within  the  verge  of  Paradise  ! 

But  I  might  say  more.  I  might  ask,  if  this  minute  and 
distinct  anticipation  of  the  World  to  Come,  might  not  itself 
injure  the  completeness  of  a  trusting  faith  ?  Am  I  too 
subtly  refining  upon  the  delicacy  of  Christian  feeling, 
when  I  say  that  in  the  very  obscurity, — the  golden  mist, 
that  rests  upon  the  features  of  the  celestial  landscape,  there 
is  in  us  now  hovering  on  its  borders,  room  for  a  more  total 
and  self-abandoning  trust  in  Him  who  is  to  guide  us  for 
ever  through  it  ?  The  Father  of  the  Faithful  "  went  out," 
it  is  said,  "  not  knowing  whither  he  went !"  And  every 
true  descendant  in  the  lineage  of  faith  will  but  rejoice  in 
that  ignorance  which  urges  him  to  cling  the  closer  to  his 
Immortal  Friend ;  which  bids  him  gladly,  for  intimations 
which  could  but  be  obscure  at  best,  substitute  omniscience 
itself;  and  teaches  him  to  cry, — "Lord,  I  know  but  faintly 
what  it  shall  be,  and  I  ask  not  to  know  I  Only  assure  me 
that  thou  wilt  be  there ;  I  have  long  been  accustomed  to 
gather  my  every  conception  of  happiness  around  thy  name ; 
Thou  art  to  me  the  abstract  and  representative  of  it  all ;  I 
will  not  insult  the  anticipation  of  thy  presence  with  calcu- 
lations of  time  and  place.  Be  but  thyself  there ;  I  know 
my  only  heaven  in  thee !" 

Surely  this  would  aid  the  discipline  of  the  emotions  into 
the  obedience  of  a  perfect  faith  I  But  suppose  that  faith 
realized  in  all  its  God-given  strength  and  certainty;  suppose 
that  "  walking  by  faith"  had  at  length  attained  almost  to 
"walking  by  sight;"  that, — as  the  daily  proverb  proclaims 
that  "  seeing  is  believing :"  so  the  Christian  could  boldly 
VOL.  II, — 5 


60 


The  ITojic  of  Glory  and 


[SERM.  III. 


reverse  the  thought,  and  almost  dare  to  afTirm,  that  "believ- 
ing is  seeing  ;" — Is  this  a  state  in  which  we  could  pronounce 
it  well  that  it  should  be  distinctly  "  manifested  what  we  shall 
be?"  I  cannot  think  it.  Man  though  made  for  heaven  is 
made  for  earth  also, — for  earth,  the  trial-ground  and  semi- 
nary of  heaven.  Conceive  him  then, — by  the  vision  of  a 
perfect  faith  applied  to  a  perfect  revelation, — surrounded 
with,  and  lost  in,  the  dazzling  light  of  other  worlds ;  the 
story  of  eternal  life  unfolded  in  all  its  minuteness;  every 
separate  source  of  felicity  analyzed  and  recorded  ;  the  melo- 
dies of  heaven  almost  echoing  in  his  earthly  ears  ; — would 
such  a  man  be  fitted  for  the  daily  duties  of  life  ?  Blinded 
by  the  lustre  of  the  eternal  noon,  could  he  walk  in  safety 
and  with  the  gentle  firmness  of  a  Christian,  through  the 
paths  of  the  Spiritual  life,  strewn  as  they  are  with  duties 
and  demands  ?  His  eyes  wildly,  and  solely,  fixed  upon  the 
glory  to  come,  would  he  not  be  apt  to  go  astray  upon  the 
way  that  leads  to  it  ?  . . .  Yes,  it  is  well  that  even  to  the  per- 
fect it  should  not  be  "  manifested  what  we  shall  be ;"  that 
it  should  be  a  "  glory  that  shall  he  revealed,"  a  "  glory  ready 
to  be  revealed  wi  the  last  time/" 

But  God  is  equally  wonderful  in  his  words  as  in  his 
silence,  in  what  he  declares  as  in  what  he  refuses  to  declare. 
And  here  he  has  told  us  not  "  what  we  shall  be ;"  and  yet 
more  than  we  could  dare  to  dream !  He  has  constituted 
himself  as  the  Image  of  our  blessedness ;  and  in  so  doing 
has  confirmed  the  representations  I  have  given,  as  well  as 
secured  the  purposes  of  his  revelation  with  a  depth  of  wis- 
dom which  I  cannot  but  pause  for  a  moment  to  contem- 
plate. "  "We  know  not  yet  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know 
that  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him." 

What  is  God  as  apprehended  by  man?  The  aggregate 
of  all  conceivable  human  perfections  carried  to  infinity. 
"What  is  it  to  know  this  God  ?  To  believe  that  there  is  real- 
ized in  existence  a  Being  comprehending  the  full  measure  of 
■these  excellencies.   "What  is  it  to  love  God?    To  adore 


SERir.  III.] 


the  Charities  of  Life. 


51 


"witli  earnest  and  Avith  grateful  heart  that  impersonation  of 
supreme  perfection.  It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  such 
knowledge  and  such  love,  to  desire  to  resemble  its  great 
object;  and  that  desire  will  increase  with  every  increase  of 
that  excellence  in  the  worshipper's  heart  which  it  adores  in 
God.  Is  it  not  then  a  glorious  device  of  the  Author  of  the 
Faith,  to  give  us  such  a  glimpse  of  the  future  world  as 
must  fall  darkly  and  coldly  on  the  eye  of  the  unregenerate; 
but  in  the  heart  touched  by  a  diviner  glow  must  not  only 
be  at  once  intelligible,  but  must  make  a  deep  earnestness 
for  possession, — nor  that  alone,  but  must  actually  increase 
that  earnestness  exactly  in  proportion  as  grace  itself  in- 
creases ?  So  that  as  the  heart  rises  in  holiness,  the  reward 
rises  in  beauty;  as  the  work  of  God  in  time  becomes  more 
consummate,  the  recompense  of  God  in  eternity  becomes 
more  attractive;  and  men  can  truly  wish  for  heaven,  only 
when  they  have  its  image  already  in  their  hearts !  Can 
you  not  now  perceive  the  force  of  the  verse  that  immedi- 
ately follows — "And  every  one  that  hath  this  hope  in  him, 
purifieth  himself  even  as  He  is  pure"? 

I  need  not  observe  how  this  representation  at  once 
silences  those  who  accuse  the  rewards  of  our  religion  as 
making  it  only  a  more  prudent  variety  of  selfishness.  They 
know  not  of  what  they  speak.  Liberation  from  physical 
infirmities, — perhaps  even  a  moderate  participation  iu  phy- 
sical enjoyments,  must  indeed  be  elements  of  some  value 
in  every  estimation  of  an  ideally  perfect  state  of  happiness, 
to  a  being  framed  as  man  is  framed ;  but  if  the  essential 
blessedness  of  heaven  be  that  which  St  John  proclaims, — 
the  resemblance  to  its  God, — it  can  only  be  a  reward  to 
those  who  covet  to  be  like  Him ! 

But  is  this  sublime  conception  of  the  inspired  penman  a 
principle  excZi/sifeZ?/ Christian?  For  all  practical  purposes 
it  is;  in  idea  and  expression  it  is  not  wholly  so.  Bear  with 
me  for  a  moment  longer,  while  from  the  very  failures  of 


52 


The  Hope  of  Glory  and  [serm,  hi. 


human  wisdom  I  would  ask  you  to  borrow  a  new  leaf  for 
tbe  wreatli  that  crowns  your  own  adorable  Faith! 

In  that  olden  time  when  as  yet  "the  Light"  had  not 
shone  "to  lighten  the  Gentiles,"  there  were  men  who  dared 
to  conceive  of  human  perfection  as  consisting  in  a  likeness 
to  Deity.  The  Christian  pulpit  acknowledges  a  sincere 
sympathy  with  every  honest  effort  of  man  to  rise  above 
himself,  and  it  need  not  be  ashamed  to  repeat  their  reason- 
ing. . . .  They  speculated  somewhat  in  this  manner  . . .  Virtue 
itself, — what  is  it  but  the  approach  to  some  glorious  ideal 
of  perfection  ?  God,  what  can  that  mysterious  Nature  be 
but  Itself  the  Cause  and  Fountain  of  all  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  venerate  as  excellent  or  adore  as  lovely? 
These  things  then  are  not  two  but  one ;  and  if  man  will 
raise  himself  to  the  highest  point  of  his  nature,  he  will 
make  it  the  office  of  his  life,  to  imitate  God!  These  were 
surely  high  and  holy  thoughts.  Our  nature  may  well  be 
proud  of  them ; — but,  in  sad  truth,  our  nature  was  little 
the  better  for  them.  The  reason  was  obvious.  The  object 
of  Imitation  was  utterly  disproportionate  to  man.  When 
the  first  glow  of  enthusiasm  had  passed  away,  the  proposal 
seemed  extravagant,  to  copy  the  Infinite.  The  God  who 
was  only  known  as  the  mysterious  principle  of  the  Universe, 
swelled  into  an  immensity  that  defied  all  efforts  at  imita- 
tion. . .  .But  again, — ever}'^  attempt  to  practically  and  per- 
manently elevate,  I  will  not  say  the  mass  of  mankind,  (for 
that  was  never  undertaken)  but  even  a  single  individual, 
seems  to  be  vain,  in  which  the  affections  are  not  called  into 
play.  But  where  were  the  affections  that  could  embrace 
immensity?  Where  was  the  love,  or  the  hope,  or  the 
gratitude,  that  could  fasten  upon  this  dim  and  shadowy 
Abstraction?  what  emotions  could  the  human  heart  own 
in  presence  of  this  mighty  Principle  of  Power;  except, 
perhaps,  a  vague  and  shivering  terror,  a  blind  dread,  that 
froze  and  paralyzed  the  soul,  instead  of  animating  it  to  the 
blessedness  of  adoration! 


SERM.  Ill] 


the  Charities  of  Life. 


53 


Brethren  in  the  hope  of  Christ!  ice  know  how  this  pro- 
blem has  been  solved.  We  know  of  a  God,  who,  without 
parting  with  one  ray  of  that  transcendent  essence  bj  which 
he  is  alone  in  the  Universe; — its  Creator,  its  Sustainer,  and 
its  Governor; — who,  without  violating  one  jot  of  the  truth 
of  his  own  unfathomable  nature,  has  yet  so  presented  him- 
self to  us,  as  to  encourage  even  the  faintest  aspirations  of 
the  feeblest  heart  to  repose  in  the  bosom  of  a  Brother. 
Consider  this. 

"We  can  conceive  since  the  fall,  perhaps  but  two  courses 
by  which  the  God  of  mere  abstraction  could  become  the 
object  of  special  and  direct  affection  to  an  ordinary  human 
heart.  Let  Him  remain  in  His  incomprehensible  infinity, 
but  mark  a  peculiarity  in  His  favors,  or  let  Him  extend 
His  favor  to  mankind,  but  descend  from  His  infinity.  He 
has  done  both.  He  has  in  one  dispensation  narrowed  the 
field  of  His  favor.  He  has  in  the  other  diminished  the  dis- 
tance of  His  nature.  Yes !  we  now  know  that  there  is  a 
God  whom  it  is  no  longer  a  hopeless  enthusiasm  to  call  on 
man  to  imitate; — one  with  whom  it  would  seem  a  connec- 
tion so  perfect  may  be  established  of  heart  and  hope,  that 
all  the  story  of  his  earthly  career  is  spiritually  acted  over 
in  each  of  his  earthly  followers — who  are  declared  to  be 
"born  with  Christ,"  "suffering  with  Christ,"  "crucified  with 
Christ,"  "  buried  with  Christ,"  "  risen  with  Christ,"  "  exalted 
with  Christ," — until  at  length  these  analogies  are  lost  in  a 
deeper  and  more  heavenly  resemblance,  when,  admitted 
into  the  sunlight  of  his  glory,  they  catch  the  reflection  of 
his  eternal  beams, — as  they  gaze  approach,  and  as  they 
approach  become  more  and  more  completely  invested  with 
his  radiance,  are  transfigured  as  they  adore  the  God  and 
Man,  in  the  clear  truth  of  his  own  unshadowed  essence, — 
"are  like  Him,  for  they  see  Him  as  He  is!" 

That  Likeness,  Brethren,  is  even  in  this  life  begun,  and 
begun  from  a  similar  process.  We  are  "  called  the  Sons  of 
God"  even  now ;  and  no  spiritual  child  of  God  is  without 


54 


The  Ifoj-te  of  Glonj  and  [serm.  hi. 


the  paternal  image  that  authenticates  and  attests  his  descent. 
We  are  even  already  "  predestined  to  be  conformed  to  the 
similitude  of  Uis  Son."  The  impulses  and  contertiplations 
to  which  even  Faith  attains,  have  in  themselves  a  transform- 
ing energy.  Clinging  to  Christ,  we  must  in  the  very  act 
of  adherence  to  Him  as  our  Redeemer,  wallc  in  His  footsteps 
as  our  guide:  and  looking  habitually  upon  His  revealed 
excellencies,  we  cannot  but  love  what  we  behold,  and  in  a 
measure,  become  what  we  love.... Even  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  human  affections,  do  you  not  recognize  this  as- 
similating power  of  all  genuine  attachment?  It  is  thus 
that  two  beings  joined  in  mutual  affection  become  each 
what  neither  was  before ;  each  catches  from  the  other  a 
tincture  of  that  other's  nature ; — it  is  thus  that  through  all 
the  variety  of  the  connections  and  affinities  of  life,  the 
changes  of  character  reflect  the  changes  of  attachment. 
And  to  this  as  to  every  other  of  the  holier  laws  of  the 
human  heart,  the  religion  of  Christ  presents  its  lovely 
counterpart.  Christ  has  borrowed  of  us  all  that  we  ever 
had  of  innocence,  our  nature  in  its  incorruption, — that  he 
may  bestow  upon  us  in  return,  the  likeness  of  his  own  per- 
fections. And  of  this  transcendent  boon,  I  repeat,  that 
even  now,  amid  our  trials  and  our  tears,  we  possess  the 
foretastes,  the  pledges,  the  opening  dawn ! 

But  why  is  not  this  transformation  yel  more  complete? 
Precisely  because  the  vision  of  this  our  Christ  is  not  itself 
complete  or  accurate ;  because  conceiving  our  celestial  King 
(as  I  before  noted)  by  such  elements  of  spiritual  beauty  as 
the  grace  of  heaven  enables  us  to  find  or  to  conceive  in 
ourselves,  rudiments  of  human  imperfection  inevitably  ad- 
here to  all  our  portraits  of  these  consummate  glories.  [And 
perhaps  it  was  to  something  of  this  kind  that  the  blessed 
Paul  alluded,  when  after  speaking  of  having  "known 
Christ  after  the  flesh,"  he  determined  "  to  know  Him  so  no 
longer,"]  But  when  the  feeble  conceptions  of  a  too  feeble 
Faith,  shall  have  been  exchanged  for  the  full  and  accurate 


SERM.  III.] 


the  Chanties  of  Life. 


55 


evidence  of  Sight,  no  such  weaknesses  in  the  subject  shall 
mar  the  beauty  of  the  object ;  no  distance  shall  diminish, 
no  spot  shall  stain  that  everlasting  Sun.  It  must  therefore 
exercise  a  tenfold  power  of  attracting,  animating,  illumin- 
ing ;  all  within  its  sphere  must  be  robed  in  its  beams  and 
present  a  copy  of  its  light.  Can  you  not  the  a  understand 
and  acknowledge  the  force  of  our  inspired  Apostle's  divine 
argument,  when  building  the  resemblance  upon  the  vision, 
he  declared  that  "  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is"f  As  Moses  returning  from  converse  with 
his  God,  was  obliged  to  veil  a  face  shining  with  a  light  re- 
flected from  that  living  Light,  so,  and  for  the  same  reason 
surely,  was  it,  that  Jesus  offered  the  memorable  petition  to 
His  Father,  "  that  they  whom  thou  hast  given  me  may  be 
where  I  am,  that  thep  may  behold  my  gloryP  (John  xvii. 
24.)  Yes !  blessed  Lord !  that  we  may  behold  thy  glory 
and  be  glorified  with  and  by  it ;  that  after  conceiving  thee 
long  and  faithfully  but  dimly  here,  and  to  the  last  grieving 
over  the  dishonor  our  best  conceptions  do  Thee,  we  may 
at  length  "  awake  in  thy  likeness,  and  he  satisfied P'' 

Ere  that  awful  hour  of  manifestation,  when  Jesus  shall 
be  triumphant  in  his  servants,  and  his  servants  triumphant 
iu  Him,  a  period  must  elapse  to  all ;  a  period  of  whose 
length  no  man  can  dare  to  pronounce.  We  know  that  as 
He  once  appeared  in  humiliation,  he  shall  assuredly  ap- 
pear in  glory ;  we  know  that  as  the  earth  trembled  at  his 
resurrection  it  shall  yet  tremble  at  his  advent ;  that  as  the 
attesting  sun  was  darkened  at  his  death  so  shall  he  Himself 
eclipse  it  by  the  splendors  of  his  coming.  "  When  he  shall 
appear"  we  shall  be  like  Him.  Brethren  beloved !  as  you 
would  indeed  prepare  your  hearts  for  that  glowing  image 
of  God  to  be  thus  impressed  for  everlasting,  cultivate  the 
contemplation  and  the  likeness  of  his  nature  now!  If 
Christ  is,  indeed,  "  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,"  oh!  let  him 
be  in  you  also  the  impulse  and  the  example  of  a  Christ-like 
life.    The  practical  value  of  these  views  of  the  gradual 


56 


The  Hope  of  Glory  and  [serm.  ill. 


transformation  of  our  nature  by  the  knowledge  and  the 
vision  of  God,  lies  mainly  in  this, — that  they  tend  to  give 
us  some  conception  of  the  inwardness  and  depth  of  the 
spiritual  change  needed  in  man,  and  thus  supply  motives 
to  extraordinary  measures  of  vigilance  and  purity.  "  He 
that  hath  this  hope  in  him,  purifieth  himself."  He  knows 
that  the  resemblance  to  God  is  the  great  element  of  the 
celestial  state,  and  that  the  depths  of  the  spirit  are  the 
scene  and  subject  of  that  resemblance.  He  therefore  labors 
that  God's  image  be  so  reproduced  in  his  heart,  that  not 
merely  his  outward  actions,  but  his  motives  and  principles 
of  action,  may  be  such  as  harmonize  with  those  of  the 
august  society  he  anticipates.  For  the  action  abides  only 
in  its  desert, — its  reward  or  its  punishment ;  but  motives 
and  principles  pass  the  grave,  they  become  part  of  our 
moral  identity, — as  they  are  now,  so  will  they  endure  for 
everlasting.  We  construct  ourselves  for  glory  or  for  ruin  ; 
each  day  adds  a  new  element  for  good  or  evil  to  that  nature 
which  (as  it  were)  by  its  own  elasticity  will  spring  to  hea- 
ven or  by  its  own  dead  weight  descend  to  kindred  dark- 
ness. With  this  view,  learn  to  test  all  things  by  the  stand- 
ard of  the  sanctuary ;  of  each  thought,  and  impulse,  and 
purpose,  and  project,  ask  how  far  it  bears  the  impress  of 
that  likeness  which  is  to  be,  in  the  glorified  nature,  the 
ground  and  substance  of  eternal  bliss.  How  far  is  it  recog- 
nized by  angels ;  how  far  is  it  authenticated  by  the  example 
of  that  incarnate  Son  of  God  who  came  to  be  to  us  the  ex- 
press image  of  His  Father's  glory  ?  Thus  living,  eternal 
life  itself  is  begun  in  our  hearts ;  thus,  and  thus  only,  under 
the  teaching  and  moulding  of  the  divine  regenerator  of  our 
nature,  does  the  heavenly  life  in  time,  anticipate,  and  herald, 
and  prepare, — and  blending  with  it  at  length  is  lost  in, — 
the  life  of  Heaven  for  Eternity ! 

I  have  spolcen  to  day  of  the  joys  of  eternity  ;  I  have  now 
to  speak  of  the  charities  of  time.  As  I  before  declared  to 
you,  so  do  I  now  repeat, — he  little  knows  the  mystic  bond 


SERM,  III.] 


the  Charities  of  Life. 


57 


that  unites  tlae  Christian  motives  {ind  emotions,  who  can 
conceive  such  a  transition  sudden  or  abrupt.  I  trust  in 
God  your  hearts  will  prove  this  day,  that  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions in  the  God  of  Love,  and  in  the  world  where  his  love 
is  manifested,  is  the  surest  art  to  build  the  fabric  of  charity. 
Yes,  this  union  of  joy  and  of  tenderness  is  a  wondrous 
paradox  in  the  daily  and  hourly  story  of  the  Christian  ex- 
perience. Anticipations  of  unimaginable  glory,  themselves 
the  very  motives  (and  that  from  no  sordid  calculation,  but 
from  the  native  force  of  the  feelings  themselves, — )  the 
very  motives,  I  say,  of  humble,  lowly,  devotedness ;  and 
those  men  who  habitually  live  in  a  region  of  reposing  ex. 
pectation  compared  to  which  the  consciousness  of  royalty 
itself  is  a  shadow, — the  very  men  whose  self-abasement  is 
willing  "  to  spend  and  be  spent"  in  the  cause,  not  merely  of 
Christ,  but  of  the  meanest  disciple  that  bears  his  name! 
It  w  a  wondrous  combination.  Trembling  hearts,  that  yet 
are  bold  to  claim  kindred  with  the  Lord  of  a  Universe ! 
Kesolute, — undaunted, — unconquerable  believers, — men  of 
panoply  and  prowess  in  the  warfare  with  the  powers  of 
darkness,  whose  brows  are  bound  with  the  wreaths  of  a 
thousand  spiritual  triumphs  ("  through  Christ  that  strength- 
eneth  them,") — who  yet  shall  soften  as  children  at  the  story 
of  grief,  shall  gladly  wear  away  strength,  and  health,  and 
life  itself  at  the  bedsides  of  distress, — shall  lavish  all  that 
is  theirs  to  soothe  a  single  pang  (these  princely  Pilgrims  of 
Eternity !)  and  claim  to  themselves,  as  in  the  compass  of 
an  infinite  benevolence,  the  whole  sad  inheritance  of  human 
woe!  In  hearts  such  as  these  (God  grant  they  may  be 
many  here  !)  I  still  touch  but  one  string  when  I  "modulate" 
from  the  joys  they  anticipate  to  the  sorrows  they  love  to 
assuage;  from  the  triumphant  repose  of  immortality  to  the 
minute  but  all-important  labors  that  in  their  own  vicinity, 
as, — thank  God! — in  so  many  others,  are  educating  souls 
by  instruction,  and  precept,  and  example,  to  attain  it! 


58    The  Hope  of  Glorjj  and  the  Charities  of  Life.  [serm.  hi. 

Bretliren  in  Christ !  I  have  done.  You  now  know  the 
nature  of  our  wants  and  our  dependence.  We  have  spoken 
largely  this  day  of  the  image  of  God  upon  the  soul  of  man ; 
and  of  its  completion  in  the  eternal  world.  Remember  that 
when  Christ  would  mark  out  his  own  from  the  mass  of 
mankind,  it  was  "  by  this  sign,"  "  that  they  should  love  one 
another.^''  In  this,  then,  above  all  things,  save  that  Love  to 
God  of  which  it  is  the  product,  rests  the  perfectness  of  the 
spiritual  image  in  this  world;  in  this,  above  all  things, 
rests  to  ourselves  the  practical  test  and  pledge  that  as  we 
are  "now  the  sons  of  God,"  so,  "when  he  shall  appear"  and 
when  we  shall  be  admitted  to  contemplate  and  study  Ilirn, 
the  very  essence  of  whose  nature  is  Love,  we  shall  indeed 
"  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is." 


SEKMON  IV. 


THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 

And  he  showed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  aa  crystal,  proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. — Revelations  xxii.  1. 

This  is  a  scene  from  Heaven.  It  is  a  picture  of  the  pre- 
siding Powers  and  Principles  of  Heaven ;  a  group  of  sym- 
bols expressing  in  the  shadowy  language  of  time  and  sense 
the  ineffable  realities  of  Eternity.  Eye  hath  not  seen  nor 
ear  heard  the  true  antitypes  that  answer  to  these  images ; 
thoroughly  to  know  them  is  the  experience  of  another 
form  of  existence,  when  new  requirements  shall  bring  new 
faculties ;  but  it  is  given  us  to  see,  though  as  in  a  mirror 
darkly  yet  as  in  a  mirror  truly  ;  and  from  these  representa- 
tions, suited  as  they  are  to  our  present  imperfect  state,  to 
collect  the  very  substance  and  real  beings  of  things  ever- 
lasting. These  Personages  that  occupy  the  one  undivided 
Throne  of  heaven,  and  before  whom  in  equal  adoration 
the  heavenly  worshippers  fall  prostrate  ;  this  bright  efflu- 
ence that  proceeds  from  them  both  as  from  a  fountain  deep 
and  central,  and  which  pervading  the  City  of  God  feeds  and 
quickens  the  Tree  of  Life; — do  these  bring  to  you  no 
thoughts  that  harmonize  with  that  great  Mystery  in  which 
the  Church  of  the  living  God,  the  faithful  conservator  of 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints,  calls  upon  her  child- 
ren "  by  the  confession  of  a  true  faith  to  acknowledge  the 
glory  of  the  eternal  Trinity,  and  in  the  power  of  the 


60  The  Holy  Trinity.  [SERM.  iv. 

Divine  Majesty  to  worship  the  Unity"  ?  Surely  it  is  no 
other  than  this  Mystery  of  the  threefold  Deity  that  is  sha- 
dowed to  us  in  that  Throne  of  the  Father  and  the  Incarnate 
Son  from  whose  depths  is  gushing  the  spiritual  river  of 
life, — that  same  river  of  living  water  of  which  this  evan- 
gelist has  told  us  that  Christ  "  spake  it  of  the  spirit  which 
they  that  believe  on  Him  should  receive."  Surely  it  is 
nothing  less  than  this  that  the  revealing  Angel  would  ex- 
hibit to  us  as  filling  and  glorifying  the  City  of  Peace,  the 
new  Jerusalem  of  God ;  even  as  the  belief  of  it  is  now  the 
glory  and  adorning  of  His  Militant  Church  below.  Long 
may  that  belief  continue  to  animate  and  console  us  here; 
so  shall  we  be  meet  partakers  of  those  holy  mysteries,  when 
at  length  admitted  to  pass  from  faith  to  sight  and  to  study 
our  celestial  theology  in  the  very  presence  of  its  divine 
object,  whose  "face"  we  shall  then  "see"  and  whose  "name 
shall  be  in  our  foreheads  !"  Long  may  the  Church,  undis- 
mayed by  the  audacity  of  heresy,... but  I  need  not  offer  the 
prayer,  for  the  Church's  life  is  in  Christ's  promise  immor- 
tal, and  it  lives  but  by  this  truth.  It  lives  but  by  this 
truth ;  for  its  life  is  in  the  indwelling  of  Christ,  and  were 
Christ  not  God,  his  indwelling  were  a  fable  and  a  mockery, 
— its  life  is  iu  the  abiding  presence  of  the  spirit,  and  were 
the  Spirit  not  a  Person  Divine,  how  were  He  thus  univer- 
sally to  abide  and  to  intercede  without  invading  the  deepest 
and  holiest  prerogatives  of  the  Eternal  God  ?  how  shall 
not  the  Church  adore  these  as  God  who  do  for  her,  and  are 
to  her,  all  that  her  highest  conceptions  can  imagine  her 
God  to  be  and  to  do?  or  in  what  terms  shall  she  define  her 
God  which  shall  exclude  the  characters  and  properties  that 
Revelation  ascribes  to  her  Sanctifier  and  her  Redeemer  ? 
Her  life  is  blended  with  the  life  of  Christ  and  of  the  Spirit; 
she  breathes  but  by  these  divine  Ministers  of  the  divine 
Father;  forsaking  the  blessed  truth  of  their  essential  di- 
vinity she  abandons  the  very  charter  of  her  existence ; — 
for  she  exists  no  longer,  the  spouse  of  Christ  has  no  longer 


SERM.  IV.] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


61 


a  being  on  earth,  when  surrendering  the  awful  and  glorious 
claims  which  St  Paul  and  St  Peter  have  not  hesitated  to 
vindicate  to  every  faithful  member  of  her  Body, — those  of 
being  "partakers  of  the  divine  nature,"  of  being  "filled 
unto  all  the  fulness  of  God,"  she  sinks  into  the  cold  crea- 
tion of  a  human  prophet,  with  no  treasury  of  graces  be- 
yond the  poor  products  of  human  faculties  and  human 
feelings ! 

Let  us  then  return  to  our  Text ;  but  return  to  it  through 
an  avenue  that  may  open  on  either  hand  wider  prospects 
of  spiritual  truth  and  beauty. 

The  Trinity  in  Unity,  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
is  presented  to  us  in  two  aspects  in  the  volume  of  revela- 
tion ;  antecedently  to  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son,  and  sub- 
sequently to  that  event.  Kightly  to  distinguish  these,  may 
clear  our  views,  and  by  the  simple  force  and  symmetry  of 
truth  tend  to  obviate  many  objections.  And  first,  of  the 
first. 

(1.)  In  the  very  first  verses  of  the  first  Book  of  the  Bible 
we  discover  plain  manifestations  of  a  threefold  operation  of 
Deity;  the  unapproachable  Godhead  creating  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  Word  and  through  the  life-giving  efficacy 
of  the  Spirit; — and  to  this  plurality  (of  which  there  is  a 
faint  image  in  our  own  nature)  it  is  the  all  but  universal 
attestation  of  the  Church  that  the  Deity  refers  when,  as 
President  of  this  mystic  Council,  he  proclaims  His  Will, — 
"Let  VLS  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness !  "  The 
truest  and  safest  comment  upon  the  whole  procedure,  is  the 
opening  of  St  John's  Gospel,  in  which,  with  manifest  refe- 
rence to  the  parallel  commencement  of  Genesis,  and  with 
the  direct  purpose  of  connecting  it  with  the  incarnation  of 
Christ,  and  the  new  creation  thereby  wrought,  he  declares 
that  "in  the  hey  inning"  was  the  Word, — distinct  from  God 
for  he  was  "with  God,"  yet  one  with  God  for  he  "was  God,'' 
the  very  Creator,  for  "all  things  were  made  by  Him,  and 
without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made." 
VOL,  II. — 6 


02 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


[SERM.  IV. 


After  the  formation  of  man,  thus  framed  to  be  an  image  of 
the  Trinity,  relations  of  course  arise  between  him  and  his 
Framer;  the  Drama  (so  to  speak)  of  the  moral  Ilistory  of 
the  world  is  arranged,  the  Personages  arc  prepared,  and  the 
action  of  the  eventful  performance  is  to  commence.  And 
solemnly  it  does  commence.  In  that  mysterious  Garden 
where  the  spotless  infancy  of  our  race  was  passed,  a  Being 
is  alone  with  man  who  wields  the  powers,  bears  the  title, 
and  publishes  as  His  own  the  Law,  of  God,  On  the  un- 
veiled face  of  this  Being  Adam  is  permitted  to  gaze,  the 
awful  yet  winning  accents  of  this  Being  to  hear  and  to 
understand;  even  as  "the  pure  in  heart"  are  promised  once 
more  to  behold  Him,  and  to  grow  brighter  as  they  behold. 
But, — I  catch  a  voice  of  many  thousand  years  later  which 
tells  me,  "no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only-begot- 
ten Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath 
declared  him;"  and  another  which  echoes  and  strengthens 
it, — that  He  is  one  "whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see." 
"What?  "no  man  hath  seen!''  Him  whom  Adam  saw  alike  in 
anger  and  in  mercy,  whom  Abraham  beheld  and  the  Patri- 
archs, who  proclaimed  to  Moses  "  /  am  the  God  of  thy 
father, — I  am  that  I  am,"  whom  the  same  Moses  contem- 
plated till  his  human  countenance  burned  with  the  reflected 
glory  of  God,  whom  Isaiah  beheld  worshipped  by  all 
heaven; — What?  "no  man  can  W  Him  of  whom  it  is  dis- 
tinctly promised  that  His  servants  shall  "see  his  face,"  and 
''see  Him  as  He  is,"  insomuch  that  he  shall  be  the  very 
Light  of  the  future  world  in  the  blaze  of  an  omnipresent 
splendor.  How  shall  we  reconcile  these  things?  Let  Him 
declare  who  spake  as  never  man  spake!  "Jesus  saith  unto 
him.  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou 
not  known  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father;  and  how  sayest  thou  then.  Show  us  the  Father?" — 
Let  his  Prophet  declare,  who  names  the  child  of  Bethlehem 
''the  everlasting  Father"  as  well  as  the  Prince  of  Peace; 
let  his  Apostle  declare,  who  tells  us  that  "God  was  in 


SERM.  IV.] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


63 


Christ," — that  He  is  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God," 
"the  brightness  of  His  glory  and  the  expi'ess  image  of  His 
Person."  This  solves  the  difiiculty  which  nothing  else  can 
ever  solve.  Every  manifestation  of  God  that  has  ever  made 
our  world  a  Temple,  was  the  manifestation  of  that  eternal 
Word,  and  Wisdom  who  is  "with  God"  and  "is  God;"  the 
Father,  or  absolute  Fountain  of  Deity,  is  Himself  ineffable, 
inaccessible;  no  created  thing  hath  ever  beheld  the  God- 
head of  the  Father  save  as  it  is  one  with  the  Godhead  of 
the  Son;  or  hath  ever  felt  the  quickening  life  of  the  Father 
save  as  it  is  one  with  the  quickening  life  of  God  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Thus,  then,  the  Trinity  glorifies  the  pages  of  the  Law 
and.  the  Prophets  no  less  really  than  it  glorifies  the  pages 
of  the  better  Covenant.  Thus,  long  before  the  divine  In- 
carnation, the  Word  of  God,  not  yet  the  Jesus,  nor  yet  save 
in  designation  the  Christ,  was  busy  in  mercy  and  in  judg- 
ment among  men, — visibly  by  Himself  made  manifest, 
invisibly  through  His  spirit.  God  was  not  pleased  till  the 
fulness  of  time  to  be  "  manifest  in  the  Jlesh,"  nor  "  took  He 
on  Him,"  we  are  told,  "the  natnre  of  arifjeh in  some  mode 
distinct  from  these  he  contracted  his  infinitude  to  meet  our 
limited  faculties.  The  Prophets  speak  of  this  visible  ex- 
hibition of  the  Son  of  God  as  outgrowing  the  powers  of 
human  or  even  of  angelic  endurance  ;  Isaiah  tails  us  that 
the  Seraphims  veiled  their  faces  with  their  wings  at  the 
insufferable  glory  of  One  whom  St  John  expressly  declares 
to  have  been  no  other  than  Christ  our  Saviour ;  nor  can 
we  doubt  when  we  compare  a  description  of  Christ  almost 
verbally  the  same  in  the  Book  of  Kevclation  (i,  13,  14), 
that  the  same  Eternal  Word  is  shadowed  to  us  in  that 
"  Ancient  of  Days"  to  whom  Daniel  saw  the  Son  of  man 
approach,  thereby  foretokening  that  union  of  the  human 
nature  with  the  divine  which  was  at  length  to  found  our 
redemption. 

(2.)  This  brings  us  to  the  other  aspect  under  which  I 


64 


The  Ilohj  Trinity. 


[SERM.  IV. 


have  said  the  Trinity  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  is 
exhibited  to  us  in  the  iVe?y  Testament.  It  does  not  oppose 
the  former,  it  is  founded  upon  it ;  it  only  draws  it  nearer  to 
our  hearts  in  applying  it  to  the  immediate  work  of  our 
salvation. 

Christ  then  is  the  "Son  of  God"  in  another  sense  not 
eternal ;  God  must  consequently  be  his  Father  in  a  cor- 
responding sense  not  eternal ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  sent 
from  both  in  a  sense  not  eternal  but  beginning  and  con- 
tinued in  time.  In  this  way  it  is  that  these  mysterious 
agents  operate  directly  in  preparing  us  for  glory,  and  it  is 
in  this  secondary  form  that  they  arc  presented  to  us  in  the 
Text.  If  this  appear  to  you  to  require  a  little  thought,  you 
will,  I  am  sure,  acknowledge  that  the  subject  is  one  which 
deserves  some  reflection.  The  distinction  I  speak  of, 
between  the  eternal  Trinity  and  this  subordinate  manifesta- 
tion of  it  in  the  work  of  our  Kedemption,  lies  in  fact  at  the 
root  of  the  whole  controversy  between  us  and  those  im- 
pugners  of  the  Christian  verity,  who  are  doubtless  at  this 
moment  in  more  than  one  assembly  of  your  city  endeavor- 
ing to  cloud  and  perplex  the  testimony  of  Scripture  to  the 
deity  of  Christ  and  of  Christ's  Spirit. 

We  observe,  then,  that  at  the  Incarnation  of  Christ,  when 
God  descended  into  Man,  the  whole  Trinity,  itself  un- 
changed, assumed  a  new  and  peculiar  position  conformable 
to  this  wondrous  revolution.  The  Eternal  Word,  in  being 
made  flesh  tlirough  the  overshadowing  of  the  Spirit,  ac- 
quired a  new  title  to  being  the  Son  of  God ;  "  therefore,^'' 
declares  the  angel  in  St  Luke, — "that  holy  thing  which 
shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."  In 
his  resurrection  again,  as  St  Paul  more  than  once  attests,  his 
claim  to  this  Sonship  was  confirmed  and  declared.  The 
Son  of  God,  then,  and  his  eternal  Father,  have  (so  to  speak) 
again  met  on  the  platform  of  this  world,  and  there  acquired 
new  titles  to  Paternity  and  Filiation.  While  the  Holy 
Spirit,  coming  among  us  as  the  Paraclete,  proceeding  from 


SERM.  IV.] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


65 


this  Father  and  this  Son,  is  no  longer  merely  tbe  Holy 
Spirit  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  a  spirit  sent  forth  with 
powers  before  unknown,  but  derived  from  the  incarnate 
Christ,  of  quickening,  strengthening,  and  refreshing  the 
children  of  the  Father  of  Christ  Jesus.  Here,  then,  is  the 
Trinity  of  the  new  creation,  as  the  former  was  the  Trinity 
of  the  old ;  it  is  the  same  in  substance,  but  the  colors  are 
brighter,  the  attitude  nearer  and  more  endearing ;  the 
dilference  is  only  such  as  is  between  the  God  of  the 
Universe  and  the  God  that  lives  in  the  believer's  heart. 
And  this  new,  and  to  us  even  more  interesting  form  of  the 
Trinity,  arising  out  of  the  Incarnation  of  its  second  person, 
is  to  last  forever ;  based  upon  the  former,  blended  with  it, 
and  at  last  (though  preserved)  all  but  merged  in  it,  at  that 
wondrous  period  when,  as  St  Paul  has  told  us,  the  Christ  is 
to  be  subject  to  the  Father,  and  "  God  all  in  all !" 

With  this  distinction  of  the  Trinity  as  viewed  before 
and  after  the  Redemption,  present  to  our  minds,  let  \is  turn 
to  the  text, — let  us  turn  to  the  Book  from  which  the  Text 
is  taken. 

"Whatever,  in  this  wondrous  Book  of  the  church,  is 
obscure,  this,  at  least,  is  clear  enough ;  this,  at  least,  humbly 
and  patiently  meditated,  may  win  the  blessing  its  last  chap- 
ter promises  to  him  "  who  keepeth  the  sayings  of  the  pro- 
phecy of  this  Book."  But  I  shall  be  brief  and  summary, 
as  the  time  demands. 

Suppose, — which  I  utterly  deny, — that  the  reception  of 
mysterious  truths  in  religion  could  not  be  shown  in  any 
other  way  to  affect  the  heart  and  life,  is  there  not  one  way, 
— most  important,  most  impressive, — in  which  they  are 
calculated  to  exert  a  beneficial  influence?  If  there  be  any 
thing  more  than  another  in  which  the  religious  habits  of 
our  Age  are  peculiarly  defective,  it  is  in  the  feeling  of  aae. 
We  are  not  satisfied  unless  we  have  measured  with  the 
foot-rule  of  our  understanding  every  side  of  every  truth 
we  profess ;  unless    our  hands  have  handled  of  the  Word 

6* 


66 


The  Holy  Triniiij. 


[SERM.  IV. 


of  life."  TliG  finger  must  have  been  in  the  print  of  the 
nails  and  the  hand  in  the  side,  or  we  will  not  believe.  We 
have  (I  fear  it)  too  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  Heathen  victor 
who  rushed  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  to  discover  uhat 
teas  iJierc ;  too  often  (I  fear  yet  more)  like  him  we  rctvirn 
from  our  scrutiny,  contemptuously  assuming  that  there  is 
nothings  where  we  have  seen  nothing.  How  in  our  times 
the  rapid  progress  of  natural  knowledge  may,  and  docs, 
assist  this  spirit  of  proud  discontent,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
insist.  But,  for  the  tendency  in  all  its  degrees,  the  revela- 
tion of  mysterious  truths  is  the  trial,  and,  duly  received, 
the  remedy.  In  the  old  dispensation,  religious  awe  was 
secured  by  means  outward  and  occasional ;  the  solemn 
Temple  Service,  the  frequency  of  miraculous  interpositions, 
the  prophetic  teaching,  the  very  obscurity  of  that  shadowy 
region  of  typesand  forms  in  which  their  ceremonial  religion 
lay ; — in  ours,  where  these  things  have  been  laid  aside,  the 
object  is  provided  for  by  those  fuller  declarations  which 
we  possess  of  the  properties  of  the  divine  nature  in  itself 
and  in  its  mystical  communion  with  the  Spirit  of  man.  And 
thus  our  God  becomes  more  awfully  unfathomable  to  the 
Reason  in  proportion  as  He  draws  more  nearly,  more  lov- 
ingly, more  blessedly,  to  the  Heart ! 

This  statement  applies  more  or  less  to  all  the  mysterious 
disclosures  of  our  system. 

But  this  mystery  of  the  Trinity  forms  the  foundation, 
and  the  motive,  and  the  strength,  of  the  practical  life,  in  a 
manner  so  peculiar  and  eminent  that  it  would  be  unpar- 
donable to  omit  it;  more  especially  as  this  very  relation  to 
practice  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  scriptural  proofs  of  the 
reality  of  the  doctrine. 

It  is  always  somewhat  presumptuous  to  affirm  wliat  are 
God's  Jinal  objects  in  any  dealing  with  man ;  Revelation, 
however,  seems  to  encourage  us  in  believing  that  the  chief 
idtimate  object  of  religion  is  to  elevate  man  into  afhnity, 
and  thence  society,  with  his  Creator.    For  this  he  was 


SERM.  IV.] 


The  Eoly  TriniUj. 


67 


created  in  Paradise;  iltis  the  new  creation  is  to  regain. 
This  affinity  can  be  founded  only  on  resemblance  or  com- 
munity of  nature.  Hence  was  he  made  at  first  in  "the 
image"  of  God;  hence  are  we  perpetuallj''  reminded  that 
the  spiritual  life  on  earth  is  conformity  to  the  image  of  the 
Son :  hence  the  glory  of  heaven  is  declared  to  consist  in 
being  "  like  Him,"  as  "  seeing  Him  as  He  is."  And  hence, 
as  beings  that  love  tend  to  likeness  and  imitation,  so  is  the 
perfection  of  our  religion  tlie  love  of  Ood ;  a  love  perpetu- 
ated into  the  next  life,  beyond  the  compass  of  Faith  and 
Hope,  became  the  likeness  is  meant  to  grow  more  and  more 
perfect  for  eternity.  To  ensure  this  community  of  nature 
we  know  that  Christ  came  on  earth  in  ours ;  in  order  that 
first  occupying  our  nature  he  might  spread  his  own  through 
us.  So  completely  is  this  the  great  characteristic  of  our 
Religion,  so  really  does  everything  arise  out  of  this  and 
resolve  into  it,  that  the  best  index  of  its  purpose,  its  surest 
expositors,  its  perpetual  and  living  Scriptures, — its  Sacra- 
ments,— are  wholly  meant  to  represent  and  to  cement  this 
very  connection.  The  idea  of  both, — not  the  only  but  the 
chief  idea, — is  the  mystical  incorporation  of  man  with  his 
redeeming  God.  Now  mark, — through  the  entire  compass 
of  the  New  Testament,  this  mystical  communion  between 
man's  soul  and  the  Powers  of  Eternity,  is,  without  a  sha- 
dow of  distinction,  referred  to  God, — to  Christ, — and  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  its  objects.  To  unite  with  the  one 
involves  union  with  the  other  two : — as  we  have  "  the 
fellowship  of  the  Father"  so  have  we  "  the  fellowship  of 
the  Son"  and  "the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost;"  as  we 
are  "baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Father,"  so  are  we 
"  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Son,"  and  "  the  name  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;"  as  God  is  our  life,  so  is  "  Christ  our  life," 
and  "  the  Spirit  is  life."  That  is  to  say,— the  perfection  of 
our  nature,  the  final  object  of  the  whole  work  of  God  in 
Redemption,  is  equally  attained  by  blending  that  nature 
with  God  Himself,  with  God's  Spirit,  and  with  ichom?  A 


68 


The  Holy  Tnnity. 


[SERM.  IV. 


man,  a  brother  man  to  Moses  and  Isaiah,  to  Paul  and  John! 
He  that  can  believe  this,  may  surely  go  a  little  farther  and 
believe  the  Trinity ! 

If,  then,  the  whole  purpose  of  Scripture  be,  as  they  tell 
us,  "^;rac^('m/;"  I  affirm  that  its  practice  is  "  rooted  and 
grounded"  in  this  our  belief.  I  will  not  condescend  to 
argue  this  great  doctrine  from  debated  text  and  isolated 
passage !  I  find  it  in  every  page  of  the  New  Testament, 
it  is  omnipresent  in  revelation  like  the  God  it  declares! 
Wherever  it  is  not  asserted  it  is  assumed ;  it  is  not  one 
thread  in  the  web  but  the  ground  of  the  whole  texture. 
It  is  like  the  clouded  sun  at  noonday  ;  you  cannot  always 
see  the  very  orb,  but  you  know  it  is  there  by  the  light  it 
spreads  !  Everywhere, — we  have  seen  it, — the  Gospel 
jioints  our  aspirations  to  God  ;  we  rush  forward, — and  it  is 
Christ  that  meets  us!  Everywhere  it  bids  us  pray  to  feel 
and  know  an  inward  God;  we  pray,  we  gain  our  prayer, 
— and  "  the  Spirit"  becomes  ours !  If  these  be  but  our 
fellows  in  creation,  not  one  text, — nor  two  texts, — but  the 
whole  Bible  is  a  mockery.  What  right  have  these  inferior 
agents  to  interpose  between  us  and  our  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  ?  What  right  have  these  subordinate  officers  of 
Heaven  to  oS'er  us  God  and  give  us  only  themselves  ? 

Dread  not,  then.  Brethren !  in  humble  adoration  to  bend 
before  the  Son  and  Spirit  of  God,  coeternal  emanations  of 
the  supreme  Father,  who  are  not  the  Father,  yet  without 
whom  the  Father  hath  never  been.  Fear  not  to  worship 
where  God  Himself, — the  "jealous  God," — has  bid  you 
kneel.  This  faith  in  the  threefold  Deity  has  been  the  one 
abiding  glory  of  the  Church  in  all  its  ages;  it  will  be  its 
glory  for  ever, — till  the  gates  of  hell  shall  have  prevailed 
against  "  the  great  Prince  that  standeth  for  the  children  of 
the  people."  It  has  survived  the  shock  of  outward  heresy, 
the  peril  of  internal  corrupti(jn ;  when  every  truth  was 
more  or  less  tampered  with,  this  was  respected ;  it  was  still 
the  link  that  bound  the  Church's  belief  to  heaven  in  even 


SERM.  IV.] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


69 


its  saddest  and  darkest  days ;  as  long  as  it  remained  Christ 
was  in  the  ship,  and  though  "  a  great  tempest"  might 
"arise  in  the  sea,  insomuch  that  the  ship  was  covered 
with  the  waves,"  and  He,  the  Master,  be  "  asleep  on  a 
pillow," — not  apparently  interfering  to  rescue  or  to  aid, 
yet  though  slumbering  he  was  there, — there,  to  arise  in  His 
own  time,  and  rebuke  the  winds,  and  say  to  the  sea 
"  Peace,  be  still !"  Brethren  !  once  baptized  into  its  name, 
hold  fast  to  this  belief;  and  amid  desertion,  and  corruption, 
and  calamity,  God  is  with  us  still, — the  Shechinah  has  not 
left  the  Temple !  If  the  Trinity  be  in  the  creeds  of  all, 
we  may  hope  that  the  Trinity  shall  be  in  the  hearts  of 
some.  Children  of  the  heavenly  Father!  believe  it  not 
only,  but  feel  it  too.  If  the  apostles  felt  the  godship  of 
Christ  and  of  Christ's  divine  Spirit  to  be  the  ground  of  life 
spiritual  and  eternal,  oh,  shall  not  we  endeavor  to  draw 
from  the  same  fountains  of  unspeakable  hope?  Remember 
that  every  regenerate  soul  is  itself  the  shrine  of  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ;  that  you  are  allied  with  the  eternal 
God,  and  that,  not  through  human  or  inferior  means  but 
by  the  power  of  that  Word  that  liveth  and  abideth  within 
us.  Heaven  descended  to  Earth,  that  Earth  might  rise  to 
Heaven.  It  was  not  to  tell  us  only  of  a  world  to  come 
that  Jesus  came  among  us;  it  was  to  create  in  our  hearts 
the  Heaven  he  preached ;  not  to  tell  us  of  sanctity  merely, 
but  to  sanctify;  not  to  bring  immortality  to  light  only,  but 
to  immortalize.  He  came  not  to  promise  only, — the 
Baptist  would  have  sufficed  for  that,  but  to  he  the  thing 
He  promised.  This, — this  is  the  difierence  between  us 
who  believe  and  them  who  cavil:  they  hold  that  the 
eternal  God  is  beyond  us,  to  judge  merely  and  to  reward; 
we  believe  that  He  is  within  us,  a  Power,  a  Principle,  and 
a  Life !  "  In  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  you  . . . 
because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Therefore  are  we  raised 
even  now  into  a  world  infinite  and  eternal,  whitlier  no 
meaner  belief  can  ever  lift  the  soul  of  man ;  a  world  of 


70 


The  Uohj  Trinity. 


[SERM.  IV. 


thoughts  not  wild  .and  fren/>ied  and  enthusiastic,  but  calm 
and  deep  as  the  heaven  they  foreshadow.  We  are  alone 
with  God ;  the  human  nature  is  common  to  both,  and  He 
who  is  one  with  the  Father,  is  one  with  us  I  Oh  blindness 
dark  and  fatal,  which  can  see  our  wants  and  cannot  see 
that  this  union  through  the  God  Incarnate  is  that  alone 
whicli  can  ever  meet  them !  Oh,  hardness  worse  and  more 
wicked  than  that  blindness,  which  can  see  that  this  is  very- 
truth,  and  yet  is  not  softened  to  perfect  love  by  such  a 
recital  1  When  to  lift  us  to  a  state  like  His  own,  God 
hath  been  thus  among  us ;  may  His  life  and  power  quicken 
our  dead  and  feelinglcss  hearts,  till  the  Trinity  shall  have 
become  not  the  cold  conclusion  of  the  intellect  but  the 
priceless  treasure  of  the  affections ;  the  blessed  foundation 
and  the  perpetual  strength  of  the  new  and  spiritual  life! 
What  was  it  that  brought  the  eternal  Trinity  to  glorify 
our  earth,  to  tell  us  of  themselves,  and  give  themselves  to 
us?  What, — but  Love!  Love, — the  one  grace  which  is 
mutual  between  God  and  man ;  which  made  God  human, 
and  makes  man  divine !  What  was  it  that  tore  the  celestial 
crown  from  the  everlasting  Son  of  God,  to  be  replaced  by 
the  crown  of  thorns ;  that  urged  his  weary  steps  through 
all  that  long  labyrinth  of  Pain,  his  earthly  course, — and 
bowed  his  meek  head,  and  yielded  his  agonized  spirit, — 
what,  but  ineffable  Love, — the  master  grace  of  His  own 
Gospel,  the  one  pre-eminent  virtue  he  came  to  exhibit  and 
to  diffuse: — that  he  might  banish  every  narrow  thought, 
and  re-make  the  selfish  world  into  one  world  of  love  I 


SERMON  V. 


THE  SOBROW  THAT  EXALTS  AND  SANCTIFIES. 
Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comforted. — St  Matthew  v.  4. 

There  are  many  consolations  in  the  Christian  Faith,  my 
Brethren !  many  sources  of  joyful  hope  derived  from  the 
eternal  world  of  our  expectation,  much  to  animate  the 
fainting  spirit, — if  genuine  belief  would  but  quicken  the 
dull  elements  of  our  professed  creed.  Yet,  after  all,  in 
some  respects, — in  its  position  in  the  world,  in  its  tone  of 
teaching,  in  many  of  its  effects  upon  those  who  receive  it, 
— the  Eeligion  of  Christ  is  eminently  the  religion  of  Sor- 
row I  It  presupposes  a  corrupt  nature, — it  purposes  to  sub- 
due it;  this  in  itself  is  a  matter  always  of  no  slight  diffi- 
culty, often  of  much  anxiety  and  distress. — It  sets  before 
us  an  Ideal  of  perfection  which  the  feebleness  of  our 
natural  constitution  has,  perhaps,  never  allowed  any  one 
disciple  to  reach, — but  which  serves  to  keep  alive  a  per- 
petual and  melancholy  sense  of  deficiency. — It  stands  in 
the  midst  of  a  hostile  world  which  it  condemns,  and  which 
assails  it. — The  very  character  of  its  Founder, — a  "  man 
acquainted  with  grief" — whose  spirit  pervades  the  whole, 
and  who  himself  "  separate  from  sinners"  similarly  separates 
his  followers  from  the  turbulent  enjoyments  of  a  world 
"  that  lieth  in  wickedness." — All  these  things, — setting 
Christianity  at  variance  with  the  scene  in  which  it  is  for 
the  present  manifested, — necessarily  tinge  it  with  a  sombre 


72 


Tlic  Sorrow  that 


[SERM.  V. 


coloring,  give  it  tliat  melancholy  asj)cct  whicli  men  so  often 
observe  and  censure,  and  do,  in  truth,  ally  it,  more  or  less, 
with  sadness,  perplexity,  and  pain.  The  ordinary  repre- 
sentations of  this,  among  men  who  know  nothing  of  the 
practical  operation  of  the  religion  may  indeed  be  exagge- 
rated; but  the  fact  itself, — that  the  spiritual  life,  based  upon 
repentant  sorrow, — is  (though  briglitencd  with  heavenly 
consolations)  accompanied  with  emotions  of  sadness  arising 
from  many  sources,  and  constant  obligations  of  self-denial 
often  involving  much  distress, — no  Christian, — true  and 
tried, — can  deny.  As  Christians  we  are  self-crucified, — our 
faith  is  fixed  to  the  cross.  We  must  not  shrink  from  an 
avowal  which  is  our  glory, — we  confess  ourselves  the  pil- 
grims of  a  land  where  little  is  to  be  found  to  content  the 
wants  or  wishes  of  the  heirs  of  eternity, — and,  looking  to 
heaven  as  our  only  Home,  we  acknowledge  the  loneliness 
of  spirit  which  belongs  to  wanderers  and  exiles !  "  By  the 
waters  of  Babylon"  what  should  we  do  but  "sit  down  and 
weep,  when  we  remember  thee,  0  Zion!" 

On  this  day*  with  which  the  Church  opens  a  solemn 
season  of  sorrow  and  self-discipline,  we  may  well  pause  to 
speak  of  sorrow, — its  uses, — and  its  consolations.  An 
immemorial  custom  has  set  apart  this  portion  of  our  year 
as  a  consecrated  time  of  subdued  and  serious  thought,  in 
which  the  children  of  heaven  are  specially  called  upon  to 
humiliation  and  prayer.  Let  us,  upon  this  its  first  day, 
join  in  meditating  upon  that  mystery  of  sorrow  out  of 
which  so  much  of  Christian  blessedness  proceeds.  Sum- 
moned to  know  and  feel  ourselves  the  dust  we  are,  let  us 
ask  wherefore  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  abased, — good  for  us 
to  chasten  spiritual  joy  with  spiritual  sadness,  and  even  in 
our  happiest  hours  with  God, — our  high  consciousness  of 
adoption  and  sonship, — to  own  the  lowliness  of  the  crea- 
ture, and  still  to  sigh,  "  forgive  us  our  trespasses !"  We 


*  Ash.  Wednesday. 


SERM.  v.] 


Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


78 


are  invited  to  restraint, — mortification, — discipline — to 
deepen  the  impression  of  the  cross  upon  our  hearts  and 
lives.  The  precept  is  painful  to  flesh  and  blood,-  but  it  is 
wise, — let  us  for  a  brief  moment  reflect  upon  its  wisdom, 
that  we  may  offer  the  obedience  not  of  reluctant  slaves, 
but  of  willing  and  reasoning  men!  We  shall  consider,  then, 
the  mes  of  affliction, — we  shall  speak  of  that  mysterious 
fellowship  of  Christ  Himself  in  this  discipline  of  sorrow, 
which  so  gloriously  exalts  and  sanctifies  ours, — we  shall 
endeavor  to  penetrate  through  these  clouds,  to  the  light  of 
consolation  beyond  them. 

The  force  and  prominence  which  is  given  to  the  practice 
of  self-denial  in  the  New  Testament,  is  certainly,  then,  in 
its  degree,  peculiar  to  the  Christian  revelation.  To  die  to 
the  world  in  order  to  live  to  God,  is  no  where  else  made 
the  fundamental  maxim  of  life.  But  we  would  err  if  we 
conceived  that  uninspired  wisdom  had  not,  in  all  ages, 
apprehended  the  necessity  of  restraint  and  the  advantages 
of  discipline.  There  is  scarcely  an  attempt  of  thoughtful 
men  antecedent  to  the  publication  of  the  Gospel  upon  the 
great  question,  "  how  man  best  may  live," — which  is  not 
built  upon  the  recommendation  of  restrictions  and  denials ; 
scarcely  a  project  for  public  or  private  reformation  which 
does  not  set  out  with  the  tacit  or  expressed  acknowledg- 
ment, that  to  float  with  the  current  of  common  life  is  inevit- 
ably to  surrender  the  proper  dignity  of  man, — that  peace 
of  mind  is  not  to  be  attained  without  severe  and  continued 
conflict,— that  the  high  happinesses  of  wisdom  are  not  the 
chance  acquisition  of  lethargy  and  indolence,  but  the  crowns 
and  prizes  of  the  triumphant  champion.  This  tone  of  rea- 
soning every  where  abounds  among  the  uninspired  teachers 
of  the  art  of  Life.  Mere  caprice,  or  despair  of  high  attain- 
ments, or  the  desire  of  originality,  may  now  and  then  have 
varied  it,  and  did  sometimes  disgracefully  lower  the  standard 
of  thought.  But  on  the  whole,  the  testimony  is  plain  and  de- 
cisive. Conscience  and  Reason  gave  no  "  uncertain  sound :" 

VOL.  II.— 7 


74 


The  Sorrow  that 


[SERM.  V. 


— and  they  wliose  practice  fell  below  these  lofty  require- 
ments were  not  (in  their  degree)  without  "  the  truth,"  but 
" held  the  truth  in  unrighteousness"  as  the  inspired  Writer 
proclaims.  How  injudicious,  indeed,  is  the  attempt  to  dis- 
guise or  deny  a  fact  which  is  itself  the  highest  testimony  to 
the  truth  and  importance  of  the  revelation  of  the  Gospel  I 

But  while  all  these  teachers  speak  of  the  duty  of  self-con- 
trol,— praise,  explain,  describe  it, — when  we  descend  into 
their  motives,  we  find  a  miserable  poverty  of  inducements 
for  a  creature  formed  as  man  is.  "  Man  should  not  refuse 
afflictions,  difficulties,  persecutions, — for  it  is  a  noble  thing 
to  be  superior  to  that  which  enslaves  the  lower  creation, 
a  noble  thing  to  be  independent  of  all  that  fortune  can  do, 
a  noble  thing  to  rival  the  very  inhabitants  of  the  skies,  and 
show  them  on  earth  souls  as  mighty  as  their  own,  a  noble 
thing  to  strengthen  the  mind  by  occasional  crosses  when 
too  much  relaxed  by  ease  and  enjoyment."  You  see  at 
once  how  little  fitted  was  all  this  pompous  array  of  motives 
to  act  upon  the  mass  of  mankind  at  all,  to  act  upon  any 
man  with  firm  and  constant  practical  effect.  You  see  how 
directly  it  aimed  at  self  exaltation  as  its  ultimate  object  and 
reward ; — that  is,  how  distinctly  it  perpetually  said, — be 
tumbled  that  you  may  be  proud, — be  poor  and  persecuted, 
that  you  may  despise  your  persecutors !...  And  thus, — the 
whole  scheme  eventuated  in  disappointment.  It  purposed 
to  teach  the  Art  of  Happiness,  it  taught  the  sure  road  to  pride, 
isolation,  and  contemptuousness.  And  he  knows  little  of 
human  nature  who  does  not  know  that,  wherever  happiness 
lie,  this  assuredly  is  not  the  path  to  it !  No  despiser  of  his 
fellows  was  ever  other  than  despised  of  heaven,  and  an 
exile,  not  merely  from  spiritual  happiness  itself,  but  even 
from  the  temper  most  remotely  connected  with  it! 

"  Blessed  are  the  mourners,"  declares  the  Saviour.  To 
this  (as  we  have  seen)  even  natural  wisdom  is  not  without 
bearing  some  attestation.  "  For  they  shall  be  comforted," 
— here  the  illustrator  of  life  and  immortality  stands  alone, — 


SERM.  v.] 


Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


75 


alone  in  the  clearness  of  the  promise,  alone  in  the  authority 
of  the  Promiser ! 

Illumined  by  better  light  than  earthly  wisdom  ever 
brought,  let  us  once  more,  then,  approach  this  holy  theme 
of  sorrow,  and  ask,  in  what  spirit,  and  for  what  uses,  a  dis- 
ciple of  the  mourner  of  Gethsemane  is  to  learn  to  grieve! 
And  may  the  Eternal  Spirit  urge  these  sad  but  healing 
truths  upon  every  heart  that  beats  before  me!  We  are 
companions  in  a  dark  mysterious  world ;  Christ  spares  not 
his  people  the  trial  and  the  tear ;  to  many  life  itself  is  one 
long  "  Lent"  of  spiritual  tribulation,  with  glimpses  of  light 
faint  and  few;  to  all  suffering  must  more  or  less  herald 
glory, — let  ois  see  if  we  cannot  in  some  feeble  degree  pene- 
trate the  dark  enigma  of  a  Christian's  grief. 

If  then  the  great  condition  of  spiritual  vitality  be  the 
union  of  the  soul  in  Time  with  the  Lord  of  Eternity, — if 
the  nature  of  that  union  must  mainly  consist,  on  the  part 
of  the  disciple,  in  humble  and  confiding  trust, — is  it  not 
among  the  first  requisites  of  the  religious  life  that  every 
obstacle  should  be  cleared  away  which  may  prevent  in  the 
heart  the  full  formation  of  that  state  of  humble  dependence 
in  which  the  essence  of  its  blessedness  on  earth  is  com- 
prised? Now  that  the  efficacy  of  Sorrow  for  this  great 
work  of  self-abasement  is  mighty, — scarcely  requires  a 
statement.  Affliction  is  the  very  voice  of  God  speaking  to 
the  heart  of  man  its  nothingness.  Sermons  may  fail, — but 
sorrow  is  more  eloquent  than  sermons.  It  is  not  the  gos- 
pel, but  it  is  the  herald  of  the  gospel ;  it  is  the  very  "  voice 
of  him  that  crieth"  in  the  vast  "  wilderness"  of  the  desolated 
heart, — "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight 
in  this  desert  a  highway  for  our  God  I"  Surrounded  by  all 
earthly  comforts,  we  may  not  comprehend  the  message, 
"comfort  ye!"  It  may  seem  a  superfluous  consolation. 
We  send  it  to  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  captive.  But 
when  around  us  lie  shattered  the  hopes  and  dreams  of  that 
fleeting  prosperity,  when  we  walk  among  ruins,  ourselves 


76 


The  Sorrow  that 


[SERM.  V. 


a  ruin, — then  God's  time  is  near,  his  hand  is  busy  in  that 
chaos,  the  "  broken  heart"  is  there  which  he  has  promised 
not  to  spurn,  and  liis  spirit  (which  works  by  means  and 
times  and  seasons)  is  even  now  about  to  weave  of  the  dark 
substance  of  that  grief  the  "  garment  of  praise"  of  which 
his  prophet  has  spoken, — the  adorning  meet  for  the  ever- 
lasting kingdom  !  "  Blessed,"  indeed,  "  are  the  mourners"  to 
"whom  their  mourning  has  brought  humiliation ;  the  rap- 
tures of  eternity  will  declare  whether  that  is  "  a  repentance 
to  be  repented  of!" 

But  again, — is  there  not  another  equally  simple  process 
discoverable  in  this  mystery  of  the  Christian's  sorrow  ? — 
and  shall  we  not  again  be  grateful  for  the  tears  that  teach 
the  way  to  Paradise  ?  You  of  course  anticipate  me  when 
I  speak  of  the  power  that  lies  in  affliction  not  merely  to 
humiliate  man's  self,  but  to  avert  him  from  the  gloom  of 
the  world  around  him  to  the  promised  brightness  of  the 
world  of  hope.  Surely  I  speak  no  novelty,  when  I  ask 
you,  have  you  not  ever  found  that  one  stroke  of  sorrow 
carries  with  it  as  it  were  the  condensed  experience  of  years, 
— and  impresses  with  a  truth,  and  depth,  and  reality,  never 
before  known,  the  great  fact  that  our  pulpits  are  for  ever 
publishing,  and  for  ever  publishing  in  vain, — that  the 
World  is  a  Traitor  to  our  Ilopes,  that  its  word  is  falsehood, 
its  promise  mockery ; — that,  however,  in  the  calm  of  the 
summer-day  we  may  float  in  lazy  security  upon  its  surface, 
it  inevitably  whelms  us  when  the  wind  rises!  But,  oh, 
even  sorrow  itself  is  weak  where  God  does  not  infuse  his 
lessons  in  its  sting.  To  no  subordinate  means  will  he 
depute  his  omnipotence!  And  oftentimes,  just  as  the  sink- 
ing seaman  seizes  in  his  agony  the  nearest  support,  so  in 
our  agony  too  we  grasp  at  the  hope  next  us, — some  vain 
thought  as  idle  as  the  one  that  wrecked  us,  some  new 
dependence  that  fails  us  as  the  old  one  did.  And  thus  it  is 
that  we  see  so  many  wretched  votaries  of  the  world  and  of 
sorrow,  who  know  happiness  neither  in  enjoyment  nor  in 


SERM.  v.]  Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


77 


promise,  to  whom  earth  is  no  heaven,  and  yet  heaven  no 
hope, — exiles  of  both  worlds,  and  without  claim  in  either ! 
May  God  keep  His  church  from  this  last  and  worst  perver- 
sion of  His  providential  teaching ! 

Such, — not  to  pass  into  minuter  discussions, — are  some 
of  the  purposes  and  advantages  of  those  chastening  visita- 
tions to  which  the  church  at  this  time  more  specially  directs 
our  thoughts.  Such  is  the  awakening,  the  purifying,  power 
of  sorrow, — in  God's  repository  of  providences,  the  great 
natural  medicine  for  infirm  and  diseased  spirits. .  .It  is  re- 
markable, that  in  the  work  of  Christ  Himself  upon  earth, 
a  certain  power  of  necessary  discipline  is  also  attributed  to 
His  afflictions, — a  mighty  and  mysterious  subject  which  no 
man  can  approach  without  reverence  and  awe!  But  while 
fully  to  understand  the  nature  of  this  qualifying  process  is 
perhaps  beyond  our  capacity,  the  fact  seems  to  admit  of  no 
doubt, — that  it  was,  in  the  counsels  of  God  and  the  neces- 
sity of  things,  requisite,  that  the  Leader  of  Salvation  should 
be  consecrated  for  His  high  office  through  a  course  of  pre- 
liminary suffering.  "Though  He  were  a  son,  yet  learned 
He  obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered :  and  being 
made  perfect,  (that  is,  being  thus  duly  consecrated  for  the 
Dignity)  He  became  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all 
who  obey  HimP  To  reward  obedience  fitly,  He  Himself 
obeyed.  To  understand  temptation  He  Himself  was  tempted. 
To  sympathize  with  man  He  Himself  became  their  Brother. 
Hence  it  is  that  He  Himself  connects  the  suffering  and  the 
reward  in  that  question  to  the  wondering  disciples, — "ought 
not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things,  and  to  enter  into 
His  glory?"  And  St  Peter,  in  like  manner,  combines  the 
same  double  aspect  of  the  office  of  the  Redeemer, — "the 
sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow," 
declaring  them  both  equally  the  subject  of  ancient  prophecy. 
Christ  then  is  the  bright  and  eternal  model  of  suffering 
and  its  recompense ;  in  His  own  divine  Person  He  has  im- 
mortalized their  union  1    Is  there  not  then  a  glory  in 

7* 


78 


The  Sorrow  that 


[SERM,  V. 


rejection?  may  we  not  contemn  content?  Whatever  be 
tlie  intensity  of  sorrow  tliat  bows  and  presses  the  heart  of 
man, — remember  that  for  every  grief  you  suffer,  the  meek 
and  holy  One  suffered  a  thousand,  that  there  is  not  in  the 
spirit  a  dungeon  or  recess  of  anguish,  however  untrodden 
or  Lonely,  in  which  the  Lord  of  glory  was  not  a  mourning 
inhabitant  before  you!  Does  the  victim  know  the  loss  of 
earthly  comforts?  Christ  knew  not  where  to  lay  llis  head. 
Does  he  regret  the  fall  from  wealth  or  power  ?  Let  him 
remember  Who  it  was  that  emptied  Himself  of  the  glory 
which  He  had  before  the  world  was,  and  left  the  Throne  of 
the  Universe  for  the  agonies  of  Calvary  !  Does  he  deplore 
the  loss  of  friends  ?  Christ  was  friendless  in  His  most  try- 
ing hour!  Does  he  bewail  the  ingratitude  of  friends? 
Christ  was  betrayed  by  His  own  familiar  one!  Finally, — 
does  he  fear  the  coming  of  death, — the  torture  of  the  sepa- 
ration? What  death  can  he  anticipate  which  shall  approach, 
the  horror  of  the  last  days  of  his  Eedeemer?  Thus, 
wherever  we  turn,  whatever  be  our  shade  of  grief, — we 
are  but  feeble  Copyists  of  the  great  Sufferer,  who  in  His 
own  Person  exhausted  every  variety  of  human  sorrow  1 

But  it  may  be  asked, — in  what  sense  not  derogatory  to 
the  dignity  of  Christ  can  we  conceive  Him  to  have  been 
additionally  qualified  for  His  office  by  a  career  of  human 
suffering?  Does  iTe  require  purification,  as  we  do ?  Could 
His  knowledge  be  increased  as  ours  is  ?  Was  His  mind 
susceptible  of  gradual  elevation,  as  our  infirm  and  limited 
capacities  are  known  to  be?  To  what  purpose  discipline 
or  preparation  to  a  being  of  infinite  knowledge,  power,  and 
goodness  ? 

To  answer  this  fully,  would  lead  me  far  from  our  imme- 
diate subject  of  contemplation.  The  solution  is  to  be 
found  in  the  distinction  of  the  divine  and  human  natures, 
in  the  single  personality  of  the  Saviour.  As  God  the 
Eternal  Son  was,  doubtless,  acquainted  with  all  the  varie- 
ties of  human  emotion ;  but  the  knowledge  proper  to  Deity 


SEEM,  v.] 


Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


79 


is  not  the  knowledge  proper  to  man,  nor  probably  bearing 
any  but  a  very  remote  analogy  to  it.  As  man,  tbe  Lord 
Jesus  was  subject  to  all  the  sinless  laws  of  humanity, — 
among  others,  to  the  gradual  acquisition  of  knowledge,  to 
the  gradual  heightening  of  character, — and  to  this  pecu- 
liar law, — that  information  acquired  by  experience  is  inva- 
riably more  vivid  and  permanent  than  that  obtained  by 
any  other  channel.  As  still  a  man,  (though  on  the  right 
hand  of  God)  our  Lord  does  still,  doubtless,  preserve  these 
principles  of  our  common  humanity  inwoven  in  the  texture 
of  His  nature ; — does  still  know  the  more  firmly,  and  feel 
the  more  intensely,  and  thence  succor  the  more  earnestly, 
because  the  knowledge  and  the  feeling  are  no  supernatural 
additions  to  His  nature,  but  the  knowledge  and  feeling 
gathered  on  earth,  and  now  preserved  for  immortality,  em- 
balmed (as  it  were)  in  the  divine  essence  that  encompasses 
and  eternalizes  them! 

To  imitate  this  transcendent  model  the  Church  invites 
you ; — by  peculiar  self-discipline  at  this  time  to  essay  the 
task.  "What  is  the  object  of  self-discipline  in  all  its 
varieties?  What,  but  to  bring  the  desires  and  habits 
wholly  under  control ;  so  that  they  may  learn  to  obey  the 
slightest  order  of  the  spiritual  reason  and  conscience  ? 
Every  restraint, — every  practice, — which  tends  to  this  end 
is  valuable  in  exact  proportion  as  it  attains  it : — whether 
fasting  or  vigil,  it  is  valueless  in  itself,  valuable  only  in 
relation  to  this  high  and  holy  object.  And,  dearest  Breth- 
ren !  when  you  remember  to  what  a  pitch  of  strength  and 
health  a  human  Body  may  be  brought  by  the  steadfast 
maintenance  of  appointed  rule, — does  it  not  point  to  a 
mighty  power  of  a  similar  nature  capable  of  being  exerted 
upon  the  spiritual  part  of  man?  Through  dread  of  asceti- 
cism, we  are,  I  much  fear,  apt  to  pass  into  an  opposite  and 
more  dangerous  extreme  of  carelessness.  Depending  with 
an  apparent  faith,  a  real  negligence,  upon  the  agency  of 
the  Spirit  of  God, — we  too  much  forget  that  the  Spirit 


80 


Tlie  Sorrow  thai 


[SERM.  V. 


urges  us  hy  means,  and  to  the  use  o/" means;  that  His  object 
is  not  to  supersede  the  Prudence  and  the  Keason,  but  to 
disentangle  it  of  encumbrance,  and  call  it  more  forcibly, 
clearly,  and  constantly  into  action.  Employ  every  means 
to  rise  from  sense  to  faith, — if  abstinence  will  help  the 
work  by  conquering  the  opposition, — abstain,  if  watching, 
— watch,  if  any  other  of  the  varieties  of  mortification, 
boldly,  honestly  employ  them.  Consult  with  candor  your 
own  experience  of  your  own  temptations ;  and  then  the 
sincere  prayer  of  faith  will  be  heard,  God  will  direct  and 
overrule  ;  and,  whether  your  spirits  qualifying  under  faith 
for  the  eternal  inheritance,  be  led  through  the  path  of 
bodily  mortification  or  not,  a  way  shall  surely  be  minis- 
tered for  you  iuto  the  kingdom  of  God  and  of  His  Christ. 

Thither  is  He  gone  whom  we,  with  our  crosses,  are  to 
follow  !  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  ;  for  they  shall  be 
comforledr  consoled  with  that  divine  peace  which  He  has 
won,  and  wearing  those  celestial  diadems  which  He  shall 
distribute !  I  speak  on  a  day  of  solemn  repentance  ;  but 
through  the  saddest  of  Christian  festivals  joy  will  irresisti- 
bly force  its  way  I  The  glorious  object  at  the  end  of  the 
vista  flashes  back  its  light  upon  the  whole  dim  landscape 
of  life  behind  it.  No, — I  will  not  again  call  it  a  religion 
of  sorrow.  In  spite  of  all  that  life  can  bring  to  shake  our 
calmness  of  enduring  faith,  we  have  something  within  us, 
(if  we  be  Christians  indeed)  which  the  world  cannot  reach. 
Joys, — secret  but  pervading  joys, — are  treasured  in  the 
Believer's  heart,  though  oftentimes  he  cannot  himself 
measure  the  degree,  or  trace  the  source,  of  his  own  emo- 
tions! And  in  this  gloomy  night  of  life, — waiting  for  the 
everlasting  day,  we  must  have  patience,  even  though  we 
cannot  yet  catch  the  dawnings  of  the  morn, — though  we 
must  live  by  sober  faith,  and  be,  for  a  while,  the  calm  ex- 
pectants of  glory  ! . . .  Think, — if  we  were  Christians  hideed, 
in  what  a  spirit  we  would  meet,  this  blessed  hour  I  The 
Church  bids  us  meet  to  grieve  for  sin, — the  Church  is 


SERM.  v.] 


Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


81 


right, — "  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin  we  deceive  our- 
selves."— But  in  the  blessed  fellowship  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  the  misery  of  our  nature  is  irradiated  and  consumed 
in  the  light  of  heaven,  sin  cannot  darken  us  with  its  sha- 
dow, and  Lent  itself  becomes  almost  a  season  of  rejoicing  ! 
AVe  know  not  our  own  privileges !  We  are  called  into  the 
family  of  God,  — we  are  placed  as  guests  at  the  banquet  of 
Heaven, — the  treasure-cities  of  eternity  are  exhausted  of 
their  wealth  to  adorn  and  enrich  us, — "  He  who  spared  not 
his  own  Son,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give 
us  all  things  ?" — but  lonely,  and  languid,  and  loveless  sit 
we !  as  if  the  poorest  suppliant  in  this  church  who  knows 
and  loves  his  Saviour  were  not  the  Hero  of  an  Eternal 
Story, — were  not  a  chosen  brother  to  Him  who  is  only 
"  the  firstborn  among  many  brethren  /"  Come,  then,  we 
will  grieve  for  sin  !  "VVe  will  weep  over  that  which  made 
our  Beloved  weep !  Morn  and  eve  shall  hear  our  sighs 
befitting  the  time  of  holy  sorrow !  "VVe  will  mourn  yet 
more  as  we  approach  nearer  to  that  melancholy  week  when 
the  "  Man  of  Sorrows"  "  having  loved  His  own  loved  them 
unto  the  end.",.. But, — as  "He  was  delivered  for  our 
offences,"  so  was  He  "raised  for  our  justification."  Lent  is 
brightened  by  its  anticipated  Easter  1  Amid  all  our  griefs, 
a  subdued  and  heavenly  joy  shall  accompany  us !  Christ 
was  crucified  for  us, — He  is  now  rejoicing  ;  we  who  have 
been  crucified  with  Him,  with  Him  will  even  now  rejoice ! 
And  each  day,  as  we  read  and  hear  of  mournful  things, — 
of  the  betrayal,  and  the  garden,  and  the  cross, — we  will 
tell  our  friends  that  whether  to  grieve  or  joy  we  know  not; 
for  the  gloom  of  the  trial  and  the  glory  of  the  triumph  are 
mingled  in  our  thoughts. —  On  the  one  hand  Christ  is  "set 
forth  evidently  crucified  among  us," — on  the  other  we  see 
"  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the 
right  hand  of  God."  On  the  one  hand  "Behold  the  Man!" 
and  the  crown  of  thorns, — on  the  other  "Behold  the  Man  I" 
and  the  crown  of  glory,  and  the  raptures  of  an  assembled 


82 


The  Sorrow  that  Exalts  and  Sanctifies. 


[SERM.  V. 


universe!  ...But  whether  on  the  Cross  or  on  the  Throne, 
in  Uim  alike  and  in  llim  alone  will  we  glory  ; — He  alone 
has  "blessed"  us  as  "mourners," — and  from  Him  alone 
(God  grant  to  all  His  people  the  power  to  keep  the  re- 
solve!)— from  Him  alone, — in  the  midst  of  a  flattering  and 
seductive  world, — will  we  receive  the  promise  as  true, — 
that  such  mourning  shall  yet  be  "  comforted," — that  they 
that  mourn  in  Zion  shall  indeed  receive  "beauty  for  ashes, 
the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the 
spirit  of  heaviness, — that  they  may  be  called  trees  of 
righteousness,  the  planting  of  the  Lord!" 


V 


SERMON  VI. 


THE  PURIFYING  POWER  OF  TRIBULATION. 

What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes?  and  whence  came  they?  .  . . 
These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation. — Rev.  Tii.  13,  14. 

Brethren,  how  profound  is  the  subtlety  of  the  sinful 
heart;  how  perfect  is  that  terrible  science  of  self-deceit  by 
which,  from  the  dawn  of  reason  to  the  hour  of  death,  we 
learn  to  reconcile  our  worse  and  our  better  natures !  Surely 
the  "  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil"  might  well 
be  to  us  a  forbidden  tree ;  for  the  knowledge  of  sin  has 
only  driven  us  upon  the  art  of  excusing  it, — the  wretched 
art  of  supplying  apologies  for  predetermined  crime, — the 
fatal  power  of  preserving  ourselves  in  an  unbroken  dream 
of  imaginary  safety  from  that  wrath  of  God  which  yet  we 
cannot  deny  to  be  expressly  "  revealed  against  all  ungodli- 
ness,"— of  investing  a  perilous  folly  with  the  air  of  inno- 
cent playfulness, — of  glossing  over  darker  deeds  with  the 
poor  pretences  of  passion  and  hastiness, — of,  in  one  form 
or  another,  soothing  a  muttering  conscience,  and  forcing 
reason,  against  its  plainest  evidences,  to  believe  that  an 
unimpressed,  unspiritual  nature  can  be  that  nature  to  which 
eternal  Justice  has  affixed  an  eternity  of  rewarding  happi- 
ness. Unable  to  question  the  solid  reality  of  the  glory 
revealed  in  Scripture,  and  equally  unable  to  surrender  our 
earthly  shadows,  we  live  in  a  miserable  indecision  between 
them.  We  would  come  to  blessedness,  but  we  cannot  bear 


84 


The  purifying  Poicer 


[SERM.  VI. 


to  walk  the  pathway,  that  Christ  has  traced :  we  promise 
willing  service  to  God  in  heaven,  but  we  beg  that  the  heart 
may  have  its  own  way  on  earth.  And  thus,  day  after  day, 
instead  of  being  the  children  of  God,  we  waste  our  hours  in 
persuading  ourselves  that  we  are  so,  or  "  special-pleading" 
with  the  Majesty  of  Heaven  to  show  cause  why  we  are 
not! 

Now,  brethren,  recur  to  the  text,  and  see  what  encourage- 
ment it  affords  to  these  wretched  infatuations.  "What  are 
these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes,  and  whence  came 
they  ?  .  .  .  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribula- 
tion." A  mighty  scene  is  opened  here.  The  scene  which 
one  day,  when  the  curtain  of  Eternity  rises,  will  disclose 
itself  to  every  one  of  you,  is  anticipated  in  this  page.  May 
we  so  gaze  on  the  reflection  as  to  fit  us  for  the  reality  !  Oh 
may  we, — ^exiles  as  we  are, — so  feel  and  think  of  this  celes- 
tial Home,  that  our  domestic  affections  may  already  cluster 
around  our  "  Father  who  is  in  heaven,"  and  our  hearts  and 
hopes  be  there,  to  "  make  ready  the  way  before  us  1" 

The  Prophet  of  the  New  Testament  tells  you  the  things 
which  he  learned  from  the  mouth  of  Christ  and  of  angels, 
when  he  was  (as  may  you  be  now  in  a  sense  less  miracu- 
lous perhaps,  but  not  less  important)  "  in  the  spirit  on  the 
Lord's  Day."  He  beheld  hosts  of  the  blessed  (who  can 
say,' — God  grant  it !  but  that  he  beheld  in  that  prophetic 
hour  some  of  the  very  listeners  who  are  now  before  me  ?) 
"a  multitude  of  all  nations  and  kindreds,"  encompassing 
the  visible  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  How  all  that 
is  loftiest  in  human  conception, — its  learning,  its  philosophy 
and  its  poetry, —  pale  before  one  glance  at  such  a  scene ! 
Sorrow  had  passed  away,  the  unclouded  dawn  was  begun. 
All  that  humanity  groans  for,  all  that  man  asks  of  nature 
and  that  nature  cannot  give,  all  that  love  (the  Essential 
Spirit  of  the  Universe)  outpoured  upon  its  chosen  objects 
could  bestow, — all  was  seen  to  be  the  bright  lot  of  these 
blessed  ones,  and  all  was  for  eternity  I    The  wandering 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Tribulation. 


85 


Soul  had  readied  its  centre,  tlae  ultimate  perfection  was 
attained,  and  human  life  ceased  to  be  an  enigma.  The  love 
of  Knowledge  was  satisfied  in  the  perpetual  contemplation 
of  the  substantial  truth ;  the  love  of  Beauty  in  the  unveiled 
source  of  all  that  is  beautiful;  the  love  of  Happiness  in  the 
enjoyment  of  secure  and  perpetual  bliss ;  the  love  of  the 
fellow-creatures  in  the  society  of  holy  and  responding  bro- 
ther-spirits : — and  this  was  to  be  for  ever !  .  .  .  John  tells  us 
little  of  his  own  feelings  in  his  volume  of  prophecy;  but 
we  can  learn  from  our  own  hearts  what  must  have  been  the 
thoughts  of  the  good  disciple  when  he  beheld  this  destined 
heritage  of  his  regenerated  human  nature  .  .  .  He  referred 
humbly  to  his  guide  to  learn  the  history  of  these  happy 
sj)irits,  and  what  was  the  reply.  "Whence  came  they?" 
Was  it  from  the  haunts  of  idleness  and  folly, — was  it  from 
the  tables  where  luxury  robs  the  poor  of  their  patrimony  of 
charity, — was  it  from  scenes  of  passionate  excitement,  the 
fever  of  partisanship,  the  struggles  of  rival  ambition, — I 
am  not  speaking,  you  perceive,  of  open  crime,  I  talk  of 
ourselves,  who  say  we  "  look  for  an  heavenly  country," — 
was  it  from  frigid  and  unthoughtful  worship,  from  heartless 
pr-ayer,  and  indolent  duties, — that  these  sainted  Champions 
of  the  Cross  ascended  to  their  God?  No,  Brethren!  no, — 
"These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation!" 
They  walked  a  painful  and  laborious  road  on  earth,  before 
they  reached  the  "  City  of  Peace."  They  ran  counter  to 
all  the  most  cherished  idolatries  of  their  nature,  before  they 
were  admitted  to  "see  God;"  they  crucified  every  corrupted 
principle,  before  they  obtained  that  better  nature,  which  is 
at  once  the  foretaste  of  eternal  happiness,  and  its  necessary 
qualification.  If  the  portraiture  of  that  undying  felicity 
fires  your  hearts  and  imaginations,  in  the  name  of  common 
prudence  I  call  on  you  not  to  neglect  the  requisites.  Peace 
is  won  through  war;  if  you  will  have  rest  hereafter,  you 
must  not  slumber  now.  The  repose  of  mind  which  our 
fiaith  bestows  is  no  indolent  lethargy ;  this  is  the  "peace"  of 
VOL.  II. — 8 


86 


Tlie  purifying  Power 


[SERM,  VI. 


"the  world,"  and  it  is  "  not  as  the  world  giveth  peace"  that 
Christ  giveth  it.  The  peace  of  a  Christian  spirit  is  not 
gained  until  after  much  contest,  and  where  it  exists  it  is 
eminently  contradistinguished  from  all  worldly  principles 
of  quiet,  first  in  being  not  a  passive  principle,  but  a  source 
of  constant  activity, — and  secondly  in  not  resulting  from 
the  cessation  of  outward  afilictions,  but  possessing  a  capa- 
city of  permanence,  of  triumphant  vitality,  in  the  very 
midst, — not  seldom  in  virtue, — of  those  persecutions  which 
destroy  all  worldly  repose. 

I  repeat.  Brethren  !  that  when  I  speak  of  the  toils  which 
must  preface  your  everlasting  happiness,  or  your  Christian 
peace  on  earth,  it  is  not  to  the  open  despisers  of  God  that  I 
am  speaking, — to  those  whose  whole  life  shows  them  be- 
yond all  the  forces  which  we  could  here  bring  to  assail  them. 
No,  Brethren,  it  is  to  you  who  have  learned  the  language 
of  religion,  and  understand  its  feelings ;  to  you  who  profess 
to  fulfil  in  your  life  the  pledges  of  your  Baptism !  It  is 
to  you  who,  living  as  others  live,  yet  persuade  yourselves 
that  you  "  are  not  as  others  are  ;"  and  who,  though  on  your 
deathbed  you  may  not  be  able  to  summon  from  the  recol- 
lections of  a  life,  a  single  instance  of  an  evil  propensity 
conquered,  a  bright  affection  enkindled,  a  sacrifice  endured, 
— yet  have  learned  to  repose  serene  in  the  confident  con- 
viction, that,  beyond  the  chasm  of  the  grave,  you  are  to 
find  the  glorious  Form  of  the  Redeemer  waiting  to  conduct 
his  tried  and  faithful  servant  into  everlasting  happiness. 
This  is,  indeed,  the  most  irrational  of  all  the  delusions  of 
the  corrupted  heart;  and  unhappily,  in  opposing  it,  we 
have  to  oppose  an  evil  that  in  some  manner  is  produced 
by  the  very  spread  of  Christianity  itself.  H  is  not  where 
the  nominal  profession  of  our  Faith  is  accompanied  with. 
direct  2^ersecution,  that  this  monstrous  expectation  of  secur- 
ing heaven  without  a  struggle  against  a  nature  radically 
corrupt,  has  place.  It  is  where  the  religion  is  outwardly 
popular,  where  sincerity  is  untested  and  fortitude  unde- 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Tribulation. 


87 


manded, — there  it  is  that  men  dream  that  human  nature 
can  be  subdued  without  a  struggle  or  that  it  requires  not 
to  be  subdued  at  all, — there  it  is  that  we  forget  how  those 
who  are  "clad  in  white  robes"  are  "they  that  have  come  out 
of  iribulationP 

Brethren !  my  object  is  to  remind  you  that  this  self- 
deceiving  forgetfulness  is  the  deepest  illusion  of  him 
who  exists  but  to  destroy  you,  of  him  whose  principle  of 
life  is  Hate.  My  object  is  to  rouse  you  to  a  conflict 
which  you  must  rouse  yourselves  to  encounter,  or  forego 
advantages  which  are  bestowed  only  as  the  prizes  of 
victory.  And  thence, — to  suggest  to  you  a  careful  retro- 
spect in  order  to  determine  whether  this  contest  has  actu- 
ally taken  place,  and  to  remind  you,  that,  if  it  has  not,  if 
in  some  period  of  your  life  this  internal  struggle  has  not 
occurred,  if  you  cannot  remember  a  time  at  which  you  have 
earnestly  prayed  for  strength,  at  which,  becoming  more  and 
more  aware  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  your  state, 
you  have  cried  aloud  again  for  relief,  at  which  receiving 
some  consolation,  you  have  risen, — and  perhaps  fallen, — 
and  "  being  in  an  agony  have  prayed  yet  more  earnestly" 
and  have  risen  again, — at  which,  in  short,  you  have  gone 
through  some,  whether  more  or  less,  of  the  phases  of  this 
spiritual  warfare, —  if,  I  say,  you  cannot  recall  (and  recall 
with  facility, — for  to  be  genuine  it  must  be  of  a  felt  import- 
ance which  must  make  it  for  ever  a  prominent  object  in 
recollection)  a  series  of  changes  like  these,  terminating  in  a 
better  heart  and  higher  affections, — then  it  is  highly  pro- 
bable (not  perhaps  absolutely  certain,  but  probable  to  an 
alarming  degree)  that  your  spiritual  state  is  one  of  extreme 
and  momentous  peril,  of  peril  great  indeed  at  the  present 
moment,  but  growing  in  intensity  every  hour  you  delay, 
from  the  operation  of  habit  in  strengthening  the  obstinate 
grasp  of  the  world  on  your  hearts.  This  is  the  im^uisition 
I  want  you  to  make ;  these  are  the  signs  of  salvation  which 
cannot  deceive.    These  are  "  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus" 


88 


The  2')urifijing  Poicer 


[SEliM.  VI. 


■wliich,  as  Paul  bore  them  in  the  body,  we  should  bear  in 
the  spirit.  All  the  formalities  of  public,  or  even  private, 
■worship  may  deceive  us  as  a  token  of  the  change, — scrip- 
ture reading  may  deceive, — religious  society  may  deceive, 
— habits  of  religious  conversation  may  deceive, — even  a 
considerable  interest  in  the  fortunes  and  progress  of  the 
Gospel  around  us,  may  deceive, — but  these  things  cannot 
deceive !  To  have  struggled  through  our  noviciate  of 
religion,  to  have  sorely  lamented  and  earnestly  supplicated, 
—to  have  lingered  on  the  borders  of  a  worldly  life,  sorrow- 
ing,— for  that  is  human  nature, — to  leave  it,  yet  each  hour 
feeling  its  ties  relax, — to  have,  perhaps,  been  taught  depend- 
ence by  a  lapse,  and  blotted  out  the  record  of  it  by  a  repent- 
ant appeal  to  the  Saviour,  and  to  have  risen  renewed  from 
the  failure,  more  strong  because  more  cautious, — and  forti- 
fied at  length  in  determined  holiness, — all  these  are  experi- 
ences which  he  who  has  known  has  peace,  which  he  who 
has  never  known  may  tremble  for  his  final  security.  There 
may  be  immaculate  exceptions  from  humanity  who  are  in- 
dependent of  such  a  discipline,  and  who  glide  into  Christi- 
anity as  their  native  region  ;  assuredly  few  of  us  have  ever 
seen  even  the  image  of  such  perfection  in  the  natural  man ; 
and  I  suspect  that  if  any  such  existed,  they  would  be  the 
last  to  perceive  their  own  privileges,  or  to  deny  the  neces- 
sity of  that  purifying  "  tribulation"  of  heart  which  seems 
the  destined  condition  of  spiritual  perfection  to  every  child 
of  man. 

[II.]  For  Brethren !  upon  what  ground  could  you  stand 
in  resisting  the  necessity  of  this  conclusion  ?  that  a  work 
of  much  and  urgent  toil,  wrought  under  the  superintending 
grace  of  God, — is  requisite  to  secure  your  safety,  and  that, 
where  you  cannot  cite  such  an  experience,  you  are  in  deep 
danger  of  not  having  yet  substantiated  your  claim  to  adop- 
tion in  Christ  as  the  sons  of  God. 

Will  you  derive  such  a  conviction  from  the  nature  and 
condition  of  the  human  heart  ?  Oh  Brethren,  what  hope  can 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Tribulation. 


89 


the  indolent  Christian  discover  here  ?  Surely  you  cannot 
but  perceive  that  if  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  be  indeed 
a  restorative  process,  which  presupposes  a  fall  from  original 
righteousness ; — if  its  purpose  be  to  remove  old  objects  of 
affection  and  replace  them  by  new  ones ;  if,  in  doing  so,  it 
has  manifestly  to  contend  with  the  whole  current  of  nature 
and  habit;  and  if  the  customary  life  of  an  unconverted 
man  possess  scarcely  an  internal  principle  of  action  in  com- 
mon with  that  of  a  converted  man,  beyond  a  general  sense 
of  right  and  wrong;  if  the  new  heart  is  not  merely  a  dif- 
ferent heart,  but  a  contrary  heart, — if  this  be  true  (and  few 
Christian  men  will  deny  it  to  be  true, — that  this  is  the  pur- 
pose of  Christianity  as  an  inward  system)  can  it  be  ques- 
tioned that  an  operation,  or  series  of  operations,  so  funda- 
mental,— so  extensive,  so  profound, — are  not  to  be  achieved 
without  difficulty,  and  perseverance,  and  prayer,  and  tears? 
It  is  surely  nothing  but  the  most  melancholy  forgetfulness 
of  the  real  nature  of  the  human  heart,  as  contrasted  with 
the  objects  of  the  religion  brought  to  work  upon  it,  that 
can  leave  us  sunk  (as  thousands  of  us  are)  in  the  miserable 
illusion  that  we  can  be  Christians  by  little  more  than  nam- 
ing ourselves  such, — that  we  can  reach  our  God  without 
moving  a  step  to  meet  Him ! 

But  in  answer  to  such  statements  as  these  of  the  mutual 
relation  of  Christianity  and  the  Heart  of  man,  it  is  said, — 
"  we  have  not  to  destroy  affections  but  to  change  their  objects 
in  this  process,  and  this  may  be  gradually  effected  without 
any  very  perceptible  effort."  Alas !  this  is  the  very  reason 
why  I  insist  upon  the  difficulty  ...Were  the  religious  affec- 
tions essentially  new,  we  could  assign  no  rules  as  to  their 
entrance,  or  their  departure.  They  would  be  wholly  out 
of  the  sphere  of  our  calculation.  It  is  in  the  alteration  of 
their  objects  that  we  can  understand  the  labor  and  trial  of 
this  great  change.  It  is  in  tins  way  that  we  can  perceive 
that  the  education  for  the  Christian  profession  is  laborious 
like  that  for  every  other  "  profession,"  which  leaves  the 

8* 


90  The  'purifying  Power  [SERM.  "VI. 


man  and  liis  faculties  the  same,  and  wholly  alters  their 

mode  of  operation  If  our  love  of  happiness,  our  desire, 

that  is,  of  having  the  constant  means  of  gratifying  our 
various  wishes, — were  to  be  changed  into  some  feeling 
utterly  unlike  it,  by  the  operation  of  religion,  we  could  ill 
say  whether  a  change  thus  inconceivable  would  prove  a 
source  of  toil  or  of  ease  to  ourselves.  But  if,  our  love  of 
happiness  remaining,  its  objects  be  made  to  suffer  a  total 
alteration ; — if  loving  happiness  as  before,  we  form  to  our 
minds  a  new  species  of  happiness,  a  happiness  whose 
Author  and  whose  scene  are  beyond  this  world,  a  happi- 
ness which,  as  it  can  little  turn  upon  our  present  experi- 
ence, must  (unlike  our  ordinary  conceptions  of  the  com- 
mon objects  of  desire)  be  not  known,  but  trusted  for,  that 
is,  be  the  object  not  of  Sense  but  of  Faith, — if  this  great 
revolution  in  the  objects  of  our  old  faculties  take  place, 
then  indeed  we  can  perceive  what  a  labor  of  mind  is  re- 
quisite to  impel  a  new  stream  through  these  old  channels, 
to  fit  the  former  machinery  to  higher  purposes.  And  cer- 
tain it  is.  Brethren !  that  these  higher  purposes  require  a 
new  "moving  power," — even  the  "Spirit  of  God."... But 
this  point  I  waive;  I  only  ask  you,  can  it  be  doubted  that 
a  change  of  heart  such  as  this  supposes,  is  no  alteration 
which  leaves  us  suhstantiall ij  unchanged,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, a  total  transformation,  and  thence  an  epoch  in  every 
one's  existence, — an  tera  which,  constituted  as  the  World 
is  in  relation  to  the  Christian  disciple,  can  scarcely  fail  to 
be  more  or  less  prominent  in  the  history  of  every  human 
life?  Have  you,  my  Brethren!  yet  passed  this  momentous 
crisis'?  If  you  have  not,  remember,  that,  whatever  be  your 
fortunes  in  this  world,  it  is  but  too  probable  that  the  only  date 
that  will  ever  be  of  importance  in  eternity,  is  yet  to  come  I 
But  perhaps  this  sort  of  argument  in  favor  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  change,  and  the  unremitting  toil  which  is 
required  of  those  who  would  realize  it,  m;iy  appear  too 
abstruse  and  recondite;  for  alas!  how  obscure  appear  all 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Tribulation. 


91 


reasonings  that  we  have  no  wish  to  follow!  I  refer  you 
then  not  to  the  internal  knowledge  of  the  general  heart  of 
man,  but  to  your  own  daily  outward  experience.  You 
who  think  that  the  world  can  be  deserted  without  a  sigh, 
and  heaven  won  without  a  struggle,  I  turn  your  contem- 
plation to  the  world  that  surrounds  you.  If  to  secure  mere 
physical  comforts, — to  gain  a  common  livelihood  (and  re- 
member one  God  is  the  Grod  of  all,  his  laws  govern  this 
world  no  less  than  the  world  to  come)  such  a  weight  of  toil 
is  required,  such  patience,  such  endurance,  such  incessant 
demands  on  the  spirits  and  the  intellect;  shall  we  say  that 
an  eternity  of  happiness  is  to  be  won  by  no  trouble  at  all  ? 
that  for  a  good,  uncertain  in  acquisition  and  perishable  if 
acquired,  the  Providence  of  God  has  decreed  the  necessity 
of  careful  previous  exertion,  and  that  for  a  good,  certain 
in  acquisition  and  eternal  in  duration,  he  requires  no  cost 
or  preparation  of  any  kind,  no  discipline  laborious  or  pro- 
tracted, no  sacrifice  beyond  what  fashion  or  convenience 
may  please  to  dictate  ? 

But  Brethren !  this  is  a  class  of  arguments  that  wears  a 
more  terrible  aspect  still !  If  it  directs  us  to  the  conditions 
of  our  salvation,  it  also  directs  us  to  the  terrible  conse- 
quences of  our  sin.  I  have  been  asking  you  how  it  is  that 
your  eyes  (ye  who  walk  as  Christians)  can  see  the  promises 
of  Scripture,  and  yet  be  blind  as  to  the  conditions ;  and  I 
have  enforced  the  interrogatory  by  a  reference  to  the  condi- 
tional character  of  all  the  calculated  happiness  we  can 
observe  on  earth.  I  now  ask  you,  on  the  same  grounds, 
how  is  it  that  no  earthly  power  can  secure  your  (let  me  not 
say  "  your,"  we  are  all  one  in  this  blindness !)  can  secure 
our  practical  belief  in  the  terrors  of  its  threats?  Does 
the  course  of  tJds  world  justify  the  belief  that  its  God  holds 
the  gates  of  the  everlasting  Eden  open  to  His  revilers  or 
His  neglectors  on  earth  ?  What  character  do  you  discover 
in  the  God  who  governs  you  ?  We  walk  in  this  world 
through  the  midst  of  gloomy  indications  of  vengeance. 


92 


The  purifying  Power 


[SERM.  VI. 


Take  the  palmary  instance  of  the  fact.  Death,  itself  the 
wages  of  sin,  is  every  hour  reminding  us  of  that  cause 
which  "brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe;"  and 
yet,  with  death  around  us,  we  dream  that  God  cannot 
punish!  We  who  have  been  by  that  God  permitted  to 
read  His  word,  cannot  but  know  that  we  are  mortal  because 
we  are  sinners, — that  the  funeral  processions  which  as  if  by 
God's  special  appointment  in  almost  all  countries  are  marked 
with  a  melancholy  pomp,  are  but  the  solemnities  of  a  legal 
execution,  the  grave  fulfilment  of  the  penalty  that  man  in- 
curred when  first  he  separated  from  the  source  of  life!  la 
misfortunes  expected, — in  sudden  calamities, — in  wars  and 
pestilences, — in  the  very  satiety  and  restlessness  of  prospe- 
rity itself, — we  only  read  inscribed  on  the  face  of  things  the 
terrible  justice  of  the  God  we  have  to  do  with!  Nay,  to 
such  a  degree  is  this  character  of  condemnation  graven  on 
the  earth,  that  there  have  been  those  who  have  declared 
they  could  recognize  no  trace  at  all  of  beneficence  in  the 
Creator,  or  at  least  but  a  slight  and  ambiguous  one;  that 
He  has  revealed  Himself  to  his  creatures  as  a  Being  of 
inexorable  severity  only,  and  that  His  very  mercies  were 
only  apparent  and  merely  intended  to  deepen  by  moment- 
ary gleams  of  light  the  terrific  darkness  of  His  general 
dispensations.  This  is  indeed  a  representation  exaggerated, 
partial,  and  false;  but  who  will  say  that  such  views  are 
without  •plausibility?  And  this  is  all  that  the  argument 
requires.  If  the  evil  of  life,  if  its  punitive  character,  be 
prominent  enough  to  give  currency  to  such  a  picture  of  the 
God  who  governs  it;  if,  as  we  know,  the  gods  of  unin- 
structed  nations  (fair  indications  of  natural  convictions)  are 
almost  invariably  personifications  of  the  terrible, — if  in 
every  cup  bitterness  enough  is  mingled  to  have  the  effect 
of  thus  poisoning  the  reason  of  men  against  their  Maker; — • 
I  ask  what  ground  is  there  for  the  hope  that  the  Justice  of 
God  is  not  answerable  to  his  scriptural  representations  of 
it?    What  ground  for  the  supposition  that  the  Mercy  of 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Tribulation. 


93 


God  is  boundless,  in  any  sense  whicli  can  set  us  at  our 
ease  in  the  ordinary  negligent  Christianity  of  daily  life  ? 

What  then  is  the  result  of  our  argument,  as  far  as  it  has 
yet  proceeded  ?  We  are  in  the  habit  of  denying, — that  is, 
our  conduct  tacitly  denies, — that  we  are  bound  in  any 
sense  to  labor  for  eternal  life,  to  "strive  to  enter  at  the 
narrow  gate."  We  substitute  the  visions  of  indolence,  an 
Epicurean  Christianity,  for  the  persevering  activity  of 
believing  men.  We  reduce  our  Christianity  to  the 
miserable  standard  of  custom,  and  we  join  with  mankind 
to  forget  God  in  the  easy  decencies  of  religious  observance. 
...  In  opposition  to  this,  I  have  urged  that  the  very  pur- 
pose of  Christianity  negatives  such  a  mode  of  operation. 
If  its  purpose  be  to  change  the  heart,  the  heart  itself  must 
be  engaged  in  the  work  ;  and  a  long  course  of  prayer  and 
vigilance  is  needful  to  substitute  heavenly  for  earthly 

motives  and  affections         Again, — I  have  urged  that  the 

whole  course  of  God's  Providence  evinces  that  happiness 
is  not  to  be  attained  by  reasonable  beings  without  the 
patient  efforts  of  a  faith  reposing  on  the  future ;  that  to  put 
the  thing  in  the  most  general  way, — pain,  in  some  form  or 
other,  is  the  common  condition  of  promised  pleasure ;  and 
not  only  this,  but  that  we  are  warranted  by  all  around  us, 
in  denouncing  the  terrors  of  eternal  ruin  against  wilful 
neglect. . .  So  far  (and  oh !  how  fatal  is  that  familiarity  with 
such  truths  which  has  rendered  it  almost  impossible  to 
impress  them  as  they  deserve)  I  have  but  asked  your 
reason  and  exferience  to  accompany  me  in  demonstrating 
that  those  robes  of  unsullied  purity  of  which  the  text 
speaks,  are  worn  only,  or  almost  only,  by  those  who  have 
"Come  out  of  great  tribulation,"  who  have  gained  the 
rewards,  because  they  have  borne  the  toils  of  the  conflict ! 

But  here  is  an  authority  beyond  reason  and  experience, 
and  to  that  I  would  finally  invite  you !  You  who  fancy 
that  under  the  ample  canopy  of  the  Christian  name  you 
can  dream  your  way  to  heaven,  dare  you  appeal  to  the 


94 


The  purifying  Poicer 


[SERM.  VI. 


revealed  purposes  of  Christ  as  He  Himself  has  explained 
them.  There  is  perhaps  nothing  whieh  to  a  careful  ob- 
server more  eminently  marks  the  divine  presence  of  our 
Lord  than  the  constant  union  in  llis  predictions,  admoni- 
tions, and  consolations,  of  great  threatened  affliction  with 
great  promised  success.  Two  characteristics  which  in  a 
worldli/  enterprise  are  almost  irreconcilable,  o\ar  Lord, 
from  the  commencement  of  Uis  mission  to  its  close,  calmly 
predicts,  and  predicts  without  an  effort  to  conciliate  them. 
The  religion  is  to  be  continually  persecuted  and  continually 
triumphant.  And  this  declaration  was  derived  from  no 
previous  experience ;  when  the  new  faith  had  scarcely 
attracted  the  notice  or  jealousy  of  a  single  opponent,  its 
Founder  began  to  give  it  laws  coextensive  with  the  world, 
to  assign  the  mode  of  its  future  action,  and  to  assign  it  on 
principles  applicable  to  all  the  climates  of  the  earth  and  all 
the  ages  of  time.  And  still  the  two  prominent  character- 
istics were  preserved, — the  continued  victory  and  the  con- 
tinued persecution.  And  not  only  was  this  an  external 
victory,  an  outward  dissemination  of  the  faith,  but  also  an 
internal  triumph,  a  spiritual  happiness.  "  In  the  world  ye 
shall  have  persecution;  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome 
the  world."  And  I  cannot  but  here  remark  that  this  dif- 
ference is  observable  between  the  predictions  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  apostles ;  that  whereas  they  predict  mere  facts, 
as  those  who  are  instructed  by  another.  He  predicts  the 
whole  operation  of  the  Christian  principles  tliemselves,  as 
became  the  Author  and  the  mechanist  of  the  entire  system; 
the  apostles  predict  the  persecutions  as  circumstances  to 
occur,  but  Christ  predicts  the  necessary  operation  of  the 
principles  that  are  to  produce  at  once  the  persecutions  and 
their  consolation ;  the  apostles  declare  facts,  Chrfst  declares 
laws  and  relations: — a  difference  so  minute  and  refined, 
and  corresponding  so  exactly  to  the  different  capacity  and 
dignity  of  the  persons,  as  I  venture  to  say  no  possible  sup- 
position but  that  of  strict  truth  can  satisfy. 


SERM.  VI.] 


of  Trihulaiion. 


95 


But  what  I  am  now  insisting  on  is  the  inseparable  scrip- 
tural connection  of  the  toil  of  attainment  with  the  final 
happiness  of  the  Christian.  You  remember  how  in  that 
succession  of  blessings  with  which  so  appropriately  the 
teaching  of  Christ  on  earth  is  opened  in  the  first  of  our 
Gospels,  it  is  declared  that  they  which  mourn  shall  be  com- 
forted and  that  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake  possess  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  the  same  con- 
nection thus  introducing  His  mission,  our  Lord,  as  you 
know,  unceasingly  urges;  consummating  all  instruction 
by  His  own  example  in  which  affliction  and  holiness  were 
so  perpetually  united,  affliction  attesting  holiness  and  holi- 
ness sanctifying  affliction.  His  apostles  took  up  the  same 
strain,  and  continually  and  earnestly  declared  that  we 
"  must  through  much  tribulation  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God."  Nor  is  the  succession  of  such  doctrine  lost  through 
all  the  ages  of  the  church ;  how  could  it  ?  for  it  is  built 
upon  the  sameness  of  the  corrupted  human  heart  and  the 
sameness  of  the  religion  destined  to  restore  it.  And  is  it, 
brethren !  in  despite  of  such  authorities  as  these  that  we 
have  constructed  for  ourselves  a  luxurious  Christianity,  in 
which  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  the  mly  sacrifice  we  can 
understand,  and  His  holiness  the  only  holiness  we  deem  re- 
quired of  God  ?  Awake  from  this  deadly  lethargy,  and  in 
the  midst  of  enormous  privileges,  cease  to  pervert  your 
Christianity  to  an  aggravation  of  your  curse !  Know  that 
your  self-deceit  cannot  deceive  God;  awake  then,  brethren, 
and  know, — and  that  in  whom  God  accepts  He  looks  for 
the  history  of  depravities  painfully  conquered,  affections 
enkindled,  patience  exercised,  and  victory  fairly  won  I  If 
you  cannot  point  to  any  such  records;  if,  from  birth  to  this 
^^7)  yo'i  cannot  name  one  hour  of  conflict  with  a  world 
"  that  lieth  in  wickedness ;"  can  you  deem  that  you  are 
qualified  to  be  incorporated  into  that  bright  band  which 
has  come, — and,  while  the  world  and  the  heart  remain  the 
same,  must  ever  come, — "  out  of  great  tribulation  ?"  Can 


9G 


The  purifijing  Power  of  Tribulation.    [SERM.  VI. 


you  arrive  at  that  abode  where  "  the  Lord  wipes  the  tears 
from  all  eyes/'  if  you  have  never  shed  a  tear?  Can  you,  in 
one  word,  have  fulfilled  the  terms  of  a  profession  which  is, 
everywhere  in  Scripture,  and  on  the  most  permanent 
grounds,  designated  as  a  warfare  that  tries  every  principle 
of  the  spiritual  nature,  without  being  once  conscious  of  the 
presence  of  your  adversary,  or  once  engaged  in  anything 
like  actual  resistance?  Is  religion  indeed  a  principle  so 
indefinite  that,  if  it  come  at  all,  it  will  pass  like  a  summer- 
cloud,  unheeded  over  the  surface  of  our  hearts?  Never 
imagine  it !  Be  assured  that  the  "  white  robes"  of  the 
blessed  are  not  the  robes  of  indolence  but  the  mantles  and 
decorations  of  conquest !  Be  assured,  also,  that  if  (as  the 
/  '  passage  continues  to  say)  these  blessed  spirits  "  serve  God 
day  and  night  in  his  temple,"  it  is  because  their  hearts 
have  learned  here  the  elements  of  that  holy  service,  and 
their  voices  have  been  tuned  on  earth  for  the  harmonies  of 
heaven  I 


SEEMON  YII. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  DIVINE  LIFE. 

I  write  unto  you,  little  children,  because  ye  have  known  the  Father.— 
1  John  ii.  13. 

Brethren, — the  knowledge  which  St  John  stated  to 
be  the  basis  of  his  exhortations,  I  am  here  this  day  to 
beseech  you  to  provide  and  ensure:  he  wrote  to  "little 
children"  because  they  had  "  known  the  Father," — I  speak 
to  you  that  you  may  enable  them  to  attain  the  same  ines- 
timable wisdom.  He  thought  it  not  below  the  dignity  of 
a  pen  which  had  transcribed  the  discourses  of  a  God  on 
Earth,  to  condescend  to  encourage  the  progressive  piety 
of  children  ;  Christians  !  think  it  not  below  yours  to  hear 
the  story  of  thejr  wants,  and  to  meditate  the  means  of  their 
relief! 

Yet  how  can  I  resume  the  topic  which  he  left  in  this 
brief  form  upon  his  inspired  page  without  a  moment's 
melancholy  recurrence  to  the  difference  (too  certain!) 
between  the  corres})ondents  lie.  addressed  and  the  audience 
that  I  address.  His  letters,  intended  for  the  general 
Christian  world,  bore  indeed  no  specific  direction ;  they 
were  the  common  property,  as  they  are  to  this  day  the 
common  heritage,  of  the  church.  But  we  know  what  that 
church  was,  when  it  received  them,  fresh  from  the  living 
Apostle.  We  know  its  enduring  faith,  its  holy  hope; — 
its  sufferings  which  were  triumphs,  its  earthly  defeats 
VOL.  II.— 9 


98 


Tlie  Growth  of  the 


[SEKM.  VII. 


wliicli  were  lieavenly  victories.  They  who  are  learned  in 
the  history  of  that  wondrous  time,  have  read  of  a  love  not 
only  stronger  than  death,  but  stronger  than  the  protracted 
death  of  a  life  of  persecution.  They  know  that  peasants 
from  the  plough,  and  slaves  from  the  market-place,  achieved 
wonders  of  fortitude  such  as  the  proud  philosophy  of  old 
time  had  scarcely  dared  to  imagine  in  its  brightest  visions 
of  human  perfection ; — that  poor  men, — unconscious  heroes 
who  had  never  heard  of  heroism, — not  only  sought  the 
flames  {that  might  be  the  weakness  of  enthusiasm)  but, — 
what  no  enthusiasm  but  that  of  God's  eternal  Spirit  ever 
wrought, — from  the  heart  of  the  flames  called  for  pardon 
upon  the  oppressors, — so  that  the  fires  of  persecution  and 
the  prayers  of  the  persecuted,  rose,  for  vengeance,  and  for 
mercy,  to  heaven  together !  Such  was  that  early  Eden  of 
Christian  history,  before  the  enemy  had  darkened  its  glory 
with  his  shadow.  We  deny  not, — the  Scriptures  them- 
selves deny  not, — that  stains  here  and  there  might  exist 
amid  so  vast  and  varied  a  body;  weak  brethren  might 
fail,  and  false  brethren  might  intrude ;  but  altogether  the 
effect  was  such  as  the  world  never  witnessed  before  or 
since.  In  that  new-born  church  human  nature,  as  if  recent 
from  its  contact  with  Deity  in  the  person  of  the  incarnate 
God,  seemed  once  more  to  have  issued  in  primitive  beauty 
from  the  divine  Hand,  and  again  to  have  caught  the 
original  impression  of  the  maker.  Eternal  Purity  had 
been  on  earth  in  the  form  of  Jesus  Christ,  and,  though  He 
had  passed  away,  the  world  where  He  walked  was  still 
fragrant  with  His  presence !  The  Sun  himself  had  set, 
but  the  clouds  yet  burned  with  His  glory,  and  twilight 
was  still  to  defer  the  darkness  to  come  1 

Such  was  the  church  that  St  John  addressed  in  the 
epistle  I  have  cited.  I  turn  to  my  hearers,  and  I  ask  for 
that  lovely  image!  Whither  is  departed  this  radiant 
glimpse  of  the  heaven  to  come?  Is  it  among  you,  bre- 
thren ?  or  has  it  returned  to  the  God  who  gave  it?  . .  .Oh  I 


8ERM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


if  at  this  hour,  in  the  throng  that  now  listens  to  these 
words,  I  could  feel  myself  addressing  an  assembly  such  as 
those  holy  conventions  of  old,  that  met, — not  in  a  temple 
like  this, — but  in  caves  and  sepulchres,  to  worship  a  God 
whom  the  world  denied, — if,  in  surveying  this  fair  array 
of  stately  and  decorous  Christianity,  I  could  discover  the 
hope  that  brightened  the  martyr's  prison  with  visions  of 
heaven, — if,  in  the  crowd  of  pledged  professors  of  the 
Faith  of  the  Cross  set  before  me  I  could  behold  the  fitting 
successors  of  men  who  cast  their  whole  earthly  wealth  into 
a  common  treasury  of  charity, — of  females  (the  ladies  of 
an  age  as  rich,  and,  in  many  respects,  as  refined  as  the 
world  ever  saw)  who  cast  their  ornaments  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross ; — if  I  could  believe  this, — or  hope  it,  or  imagine 
it, — would  I  address  you,  as  now  I  am  doing,  in  the  style 
that  education  and  refinement  demands  of  its  orators?  or 
would  I  not  rather, — trusting  in  tried  hearts, — spurn  aside 
all  the  pomp  of  appeal  and  all  the  labor  of  argument, — 
and  speaking  as  my  author  spoke  and  speaking  no  more, 
tell  you  that  these  "  little  children"  whom  I  plead  for  to- 
day, endeared  to  you  as  they  are  by  every  local  con- 
nection,— if  you  will  have  them  such  as  St  John  would 
"  write"  to,  or  such  as  St  John's  Master  would  adopt, — 
must  by  t/ow,  by  you  alone  if  at  all, — by  you,  their  natural 
protectors, — be  taught  to  "know  the  Father!" 
•  For  them  I  have  to  speak,  but  not  for  them  only.  If 
you  hear  me  on  their  behalf,  you  are  also  to  hear  me  on 
your  own.  If  I  plead  for  children,  I  speak  to  men!  Your 
hearts  are  indeed  the  tribunal  before  which  I  have  to  advo- 
cate the  cause  of  this,  your  own  parochial  charity.  But 
let  me  not  forget  that  I  have  an  office  more  momentous  1 
They  are  also  the  tribunal  before  which,  in  common  with 
your  own  accustomed  minister, — with  all  other  ministers 
£)Q  all  other  occasions,  I  have  to  plead  the  cause  of  a  charity 
more  intimate  to  each  of  you, — that  reflective  charity,  that 


100 


The  Growth  of  the 


[SERM,  VII. 


holy  compassion,  by  which  the  converted  soul  of  a  perish- 
ing sinner  learns  at  last  to  take  pity  on  itself/ 

For  such  an  application  I  need  not  overpass  the  text, — 
the  pregnant  text, — before  us.  It  presents  two  or  three 
different  aspects,  and  you  will  permit  me  to  invite  your 
attention  very  briefly  to  each.  The  "  little  children"  whom 
St  John  addressed,  though  here  1  have  little  doubt  the  term 
is  to  be  understood  literally,  yet  you  must  remember,  shared 
that  title  in  the  apostle's  vocabulary  of  love  with  all  humble 
Christians  of  all  ages  of  life.  Nor  was  this  phrase, — in  this 
extended  sense, — -pecjt^/ar  to  St  John,  though  so  often 
adopted  by  him,  and  so  characteristic  of  his  lovely  nature. 
"  Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God,  as  dear  children,"  writes 
St  Paul.  Again, — "As  my  beloved  sons  I  warn  you," — "I 
speak  as  unto  children:" — and  "my  little  children  of  w}iom 
I  travail  in  birth."  Christ  Himself  had  authorized  the 
beautiful  metaphor,  both  by  His  express  use,  (John  xxi.  5) 
and  still  more,  by  the  spirit  of  His  teaching.  Now,  of  two 
aspects  under  which  the  ascription  of  "childhood"  to  Chris- 
tian discipleship  might  be  viewed,  it  is  observable  how  dis- 
tinctly characteristic  is  the  separate  adoption  by  the  two 
apostles, — how  the  tone  of  each  character  reveals  itself  in 
the  employment  of  this  simple  term.  The  remark  may 
seem  somewhat  refined, — perhaps  overstrained, — yet  surely 
it  is  in  such  minute  and  delicate  shadowings  that  real  gen- 
uineness best  discovers  itself  Observe  then, — if  St  Paul 
addresses  his  converts  as  "  children,"  it  is  as  his  oivn  chil- 
dren he  chiefly  regards  them.  The  active  energetic  minister 
of  the  Gentiles  identifies  his  people  and  himself  in  the  bonds 
of  a  familiar  relation;  and  justly  proud  of  his  fruitful 
labors  in  the  Gospel  rejoices  to  think  not  only  that  the 
brethren  of  Ephesus  or  Corinth  are  the  people  of  Christ, 
but  that  they  are  so  through  his  instrumentality.  But  St 
John, — gentle  contemplative  St  John, — if  he  terras  the 
members  of  the  church  "  little  children,"  does  so  without 
any  direct  personal  purpose.    It  is  not  as  the  children  of 


SERM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


161 


tis  own  apostleship,  nor  always  as  the  children  of  even  the 
heavenly  Father,  that  he  loves  to  regard  them.  The  pro-, 
found  simplicity  of  his  mind  usually  seeks  nothing  more 
by  the  term  than  to  convey  the  general  idea  of  innocence, 
dependence,  humility,  and  love.  How  characteristic  of  two 
natures,  which,  both  admirable,  were  yet  admirable  in  ways 
so  unlike! — two  natures,  which,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to 
say,  are  types  to  the  Christian  world  in  every  age  of  two 
great  classes  of  Believers,  that, — each  imperfect  without 
the  other, — combine,  when  united  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Church,  to  exalt  it  to  "the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ."  The  one, — St  Paul, — ardent  and  im- 
petuous, imprints  his  character  upon  every  page,  presents 
himself  in  presenting  Christ,  and  throws  into  the  cause  of 
the  Gospel  the  whole  energies  of  a  spirit,  which  in  its 
highest  exaltation  is  still  St  Paul's.  The  other,  in  whom 
affection  seems  to  have  consumed  in  its  heavenly  flame,  or 
assimilated  to  its  own  substance,  every  other  power,  loses 
himself  in  adopting  Christ,  and  seems  to  speak  to  mankind 
from  the  mystical  depths  of  another  being,  until  it  is  no 
longer  the  man, — John, — we  hear,  but  a  half  beatified 
spirit,  reiterating  its  lovely,  simple,  lesson  of  love.  The 
one,  various,  eloquent,  "  all  things  to  all  men,"  can  never 
forget  that  his  converts  are  the  babes  of  his  own  spiritual 
fatherhood  in  this  world,  his  special  crown  of  rejoicing  in 
a  future; — the  other,  with  but  one  idea, — but  that  the 
highest  of  all,  is  himself  so  infantine  in  the  character  of  his 
dove-like  nature,  as  scarcely  to  wish  to  be  aught  but  a  child 
among  these  children  of  paradise ! 

Besides  the  literal  use  of  this  term  (to  which  I  shall  have 
again  to  return, — for  I  am  to-day  the  advocate  of  no  figura- 
tive or  ideal  childhood,  but  of  real  and  immortal  spirits 
schooling  in  this  great  academy  of  the  world  for  heaven  or 
for  hell!)  and  the  metaphorical  uses, — personal  and  general, . 
— which  I  have  noticed, — there  is  yet  another  figurative  use 
of  the  term,  which  indeed  many  learned  men  have  supposed 

9* 


102 


The  Growth  of  the 


[SEBM.  VII. 


to  be  intended  in  this  very  passage,  but  which  at  all  events 
is  frequent  in  the  apostolic  writings.  It  is  that  in  which 
life, — being  no  longer  the  growth,  maturity  and  waste  of 
the  body,  but  the  "  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man," — is 
measured  upon  a  higher  scale  than  the  course  of  fleeting 
years,  even  by  the  progressive  strength  of  God's  Spirit  in 
the  heart.  In  this  sense  the  "children,"  "young  men"  and 
"  fathers,"  of  this  passage  are  regarded  as  symbolizing  three 
great  stages  of  spiritual  advancement;  and,  whether  St 
John  so  intended  it  or  not,  such  an  interpretation  of  the 
passage  contains  a  mighty  truth.  This  brings  us  altogether 
out  of  the  natural  and  visible  world  into  that  mysterious 
sphere  of  divine  agency  where  God  is  alone  with  the  hu- 
man soul.  It  is  not  by  the  annual  revolutions  of  a  visible 
Sun  that  the  progress  of  such  a  life  is  noted,  but  by  the 
advancing  beams  of  the  eternal  Sun  of  the  spiritual  heaven. 
That  "  city," — and  the  human  soul  even  in  this  world  may 
in  some  respect  be  such, — "hath  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God 
doth  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof."  (Rev. 
xxi.  23.)  Now  the  passage,  we  see,  attributes  to  this 
blessedness  perpetual  advancement, — advancement  from 
holy  to  holier ;  and  it  is  on  this  glorious  prospect  I  would 
have  you  meditate,  and  perhaps  assist  you  for  a  while  to 
arrange  your  thoughts.  For  this  internal  Life  of  God  in 
the  Heart  is  subject,  as  every  thing  perhaps  but  God  Him- 
self is,  to  the  great  law  of  progress.  "Never  man  reached 
at  once  the  lowest  depravity,"  says  an  old  author ;  Christi- 
anity shows  us  the  fairer  aspect  of  the  thought  in  showing 
that  man  is  not  destined  to  be  suddenly  perfect.  Every- 
where it  speaks  of  gradual  development,  of  structures  that 
are  themselves  the  basis  of  new  structures  of  holiness,  of 
a  journey  prosecuted  through  many  stages.  The  "truth" 
is  nolo  a  life  infused,  now  a  seed  planted  and  watered,  noio  a 
light  brightening  more  and  more  to  the  perfect  day.  It  is 
the  feebleness  of  childhood,  the  vigor  of  youth,  the  stability 


SEKM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


103 


of  manhood,  the  settled  dignity  and  calm  repose  of  age: — 
in  all  a  continued  identity  of  the  principle  of  life,  but  a 
difference  in  its  degrees  of  manifestation.  "I  speak  unto 
you,"  says  St  Paul,  "  as  unto  habes  in  Christ.  I  have  fed 
you  with  milk,  and  not  with  meat;  for  hitherto  ye  were 
not  able  to  bear  it.'"  (1  Cor.  iii.  1,  2.)  "  As  new-born 
babes,"  says  St  Peter,  "desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word," — evidently  an  early  stage  of  the  Christian  life, — 
that  for  which  the  "  milk"  of  the  word  is  appropriated, — 
and  that  too  not  so  much  enjoyed  as  "desired."  While 
again  St  Paul  looks  forward  to  the  glorious  period  when 
"we  shall  all  come  unto  2^ 'perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  Christ's  fulness.". ..  Keflect,  then,  a  moment 
on  this  aspect  of  the  passage, — on  this  progressive  growth 
of  the  divine  life ;  a  point  so  bright  with  consolation  to 
every  traveller  on  the  way  to  perfection, — to  all  who  "  for- 
getting those  things  which  are  behind"  would  stretch  for- 
ward, bating  no  jot  of  heart  or  hope,  for  the  crown  of 
promise.  Surely,  then,  formed  as  man  is,  I  cannot  doubt 
that,  in  his  present  state,  this  principle  of  perpetual  ad- 
vancement, which  supplies  a  constant  motive  for  activity 
and  an  object  ever-renewing  in  size  and  splendor  as  we 
approach  it,  is  more  suitable  than  even  an  inactive  mono- 
tony of  perfection, — if  indeed,  to  a  nature  like  ours,  per- 
fection were  conceivable  on  such  terms.  When  you 
remember  how  large  a  portion  of  our  nature  is  made  up  of 
principles  progressive  in  their  very  essence,  you  will  be 
inclined  to  conclude,  that  if  Christianity, — that  "Truth" 
which  is  the  supplement  of  our  nature, — be  destined  to 
feed  the  whole  man,  if  this  blood  of  life  be  meant  to  circu- 
late through  every  vein  and  artery  of  the  spiritual  frame, 
then  it  is  likely  to  be  in  its  tendency  an  active,  growing,  or 
progressive  system  of  inward  holiness  in  order  to  suit  a 
large  portion  of  a  system  which,  in  this  life  at  least,  un- 
questionably is  so.  "Desires"  exist,  and  they  are  in  their 
nature  active  energetic  principles, — seeking,  coveting,  aspir- 


104 


The  Growth  of  the 


[SERM;  VII. 


ing.  Now  if  Christianity,  which  gives  new  objects  and 
purposes  to  <all  our  faculties,  be  formed  to  correspond  to 
our  "  desires,"  it  must  not  anticipate  but  excite  them, — 
excite  in  order  to  gratify.  This  then  supposes  the  divine 
objects  of  such  holy  desires  to  be  constantly  increasing  in 
brilliancy  and  loveliness  in  order  that  the  desires  of  thei 
purified  heart  may  never  expire  iu  gratification  or  fade 
into  satiety.  Now  what  is  Holiness  but  this  brightening 
presence  of  God  worshipped  by  affections  that  thus  grow 
as  they  gaze  ?  Or  view  it  in  another  way  ; — to  love  the 
perfection  of  the  Gospel  as  personified  in  the  Author  of  it, 
even  the  B'ather  of  Heaven, — is  to  see  that  perfection  more 
thoroughly  (for  such  is  the  very  property  of  spiritual  en- 
lightenment, as  well  as,  in  a  great  degree,  the  property  of 
even  the  natural  mind, — to  see  excellence  more  vividly  the 
more  we  hve  it).  But  must  not  the  better  sight  of  perfec- 
tion quicken,  in  its  turn,  the  very  love  that  gave  that  better 
vision  ?  And  thus  the  object  more  prominent  and  the  love 
more  animated  will  perpetually  call  each  other  into  nevr 
and  brighter  existence ;  every  perception  of  God  will  set 
the  heart  on  fire,  and  every  burning  emotion  of  holy  love 
will  in  return  bring  God  nearer  to  the  soul ;  His  presence 
will  answer  the  demand  of  the  adorer,  and  the  adorer  will 
rise,  as  his  demand  is  granted,  in  prayers  for  a  closer  and 
yet  closer  presence, — and  where, — where, — shall  this  pro- 
gress to  infinite  perfection  end?  Never  in  this  world, — ■ 
never,  perhaps,  in  the  next.  Our  perfection  for  eternity 
may  be  progress  for  eternity!  Such  at  this  hour  may  be 
l(he  perfection  of  the  angels.  And  the  whole  universe  of 
pure  born  and  regenerate  beings  may  be  conceived  as  scat- 
tered at  different  points  along  one  vast  highway  leading  to 
the  light  inaccessible  where  God  dwells  alone,  in  the  secret 
Sanctuary  of  His  own  infinite  attributes ;  all  travel  inces- 
santly towards  the  light  which  glows  brighter  and  brighter 
on  them  as  they  advance, — for  the  progress  is  their  happi- 
ness.   TFe, — alas  for  fallen  human  nature ! — are  far  back- 


SERM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


105 


upon  the  course ;  but  still  it  is  a  comrnon  course  to  all,  and 
the  good  and  great  of  every  world  are  our  fellow-travellers 
to  God ! 

Am  I  intelligible  to  your  hearts?  Do  you  understand 
me  when  I  speak  thus  of  the  Christian  progress  to  God, — 
or  rather  perhaps  I  might  say, — of  that  telescope  of  love 
by  which  he  brings  the  light  of  God  nearer  and  brighter 
to  his  soul?  I  do  not  ask  you  to  agree  with  my  reasonings: 
— God  knows  I  state  them  with  humility  and  a  deep  sense 
how  feeble  is  the  grasp  that  the  creature  of  an  hour  can 
lay  upon  the  purposes  or  the  processes  of  an  Infinite  Provi- 
dence. But  I  do  ask  you  to  understand  the  feelings  and 
the  experience  to  which  I  am  appealing.  Be  with  me  in 
the  fad,  whatever  becomes  of  the  argument !  Agree  with 
me  that  to  love  God  is  to  have  Him  present,  that  to  have 
Him  present  is  to  love  Him  more  and  more,  that  to  love 
Him  more  is  to  increase  the  glory  and  frequency  of  His 
blessed  visitations, — allow  this  to  be  the  record  of  your 
own  experience,  and  I  ask  not  what  it  proves, — whether 
Eeligion  be  a  progressive  thing  or  a  stationary  thing, — I 
only  know  it  proves  a  point  beyond  all  doctrines  or  theories 
or  systems, — it  proves  that  you  are  the  children  of  God, — 
"  Huh  children^^  in  the  noblest  and  fairest  sense  of  the  phrase. 
But  oh!  if  you  cannot  understand  anything  of  all  these 
details  of  the  Christian's  history,  if  they  are  colors  to  the 
blind  and  music  to  the  deaf,  then  are  you  indeed  "  children" 
in  the  lowest  sense, — children  in  the  life  of  Christ, — babes 
who  are  stiil  unweaned  from  the  "milk"  (as  St  Paul  calls  it) 
of  ceremonies,  and  observances,  and  worldly  elements! 
Ah  brethren !  if  your  closets  have  no  account  to  give  of 
rising  contemplations,  and  quickening  feelings,  and  those 
blessed  visions  which  the  "  pure  in  heart"  are  promised, — 
if  everything  which  tells  of  the  neighborhood  of  God  is  to 
your  hearts, — as  perhaps  at  this  moment  when  I  speak  of 
it, — a  strange,  mystical,  extravagant  rhapsody, — how  will 
you  bear  the  blaze  of  His  real  and  actual  presence,  that 


106 


The  Oroiclh  of  the 


[SERM.  VII. 


blaze  whicli  either  glorifies  the  soul  with  its  light,  or 
\  scorches  and  withers  it  for  all  eternity ! 
\  Here  then  is  the  point.  Is  there  one  among  you  who 
Bas  felt  the  first  celestial  breathings  of  the  life  of  God  but 
felt  no  more, — an  infant  in  the  faith?  Oh,  my  brother 
and  friend !  do  you  then  feel  no  ambition  to  escape  this 
poor  and  feeble  childhood  ?  to  be  no  longer  a  minor  in 
holiness?  to  "come  of  age"  and  assume  the  full  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  heavenly  citizen  ?  Now  that  God's 
grace  has  made  a  rent  in  the  barrier  between  you  and 
Him,  can  you  not  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  glorious  scene 
beyond ;  or  will  you  stand  for  ever  at  the  gates  of  para- 
dise? "For  ever!"  Alas,  you  cannot  stand  there  for 
ever !  Day  treads  on  day,  sabbath  on  sabbath,  month  on 
month,  year  on  year ;  and  if  your  deathbed  finds  you  the 
same  weakling  "  child"  that  this  sabbath  morn  sees  you, 
can  you  expect  to  be  the  "  perfect  man"  of  eternal  life  ? 
And  is  there  a  drop  of  more  exquisite  bitterness  in  the 
cup  of  everlasting  perdition,  than  the  knowledge  how 
near  you  shall  have  been  to  the  happiness  you  have  lost  ? 
What  spectres,  in  all  its  populace  of  d'evils,  has  hell  itself 
more  horrible  than  the  recollections  of  warnings  given  in 
vain,  opportunities  possessed  in  vain,  exhortations  heard 
to  be  talked  of  and  forgotten  ?  May  God  avert  it !  but 
We  dare  not  disguise  the  truth, — is  it  too  much  to  say  that 
at  this  very  hour  and  in  this  very  place  there  may  b6 
those, — and  they  not  the  worst  of  my  listeners,-— who  will 
one  terrible  day  remember  this  morning's  discourse?  and 
weep  bitter  tears  at  the  thought  that,  humble  and  feeble 
as  was  the  Minister,  his  words  at  least  were  true!  But  I 
pause.  Perhaps  I  have  too  daringly  raised  the  shroud 
that  envelopes  terrors  which  it  shocks  to  name.  Pardon 
me,  beloved  brethren!  pardon  tne,  when  you  know  that 
every  word  which  I  speak  to  you  I  feel  to  be  still  mord 
awfully  applicable  to  myself  and  my  brother-ministers,  who, 


SEBM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


107 


offering  ourselves  as  instructors,  are  guilty  with  a  tenfold 
V     guilt  if  we  forget  our  own  lessons ! 

I  have  spoken  to  you  of  the  "  childhood"  of  the  Gospel^ 
in  its  various  senses  of  approval  and  disapproval ;  and 
before  I  attempt  once  more  to  recall  it  to  your  hearts,  I 
will  ask  you  to  consider  for  a  moment  the  other  phrase  of 
the  text, — which  indeed  can  have  only  one  sense,  but  that 
a  sense  of  deep  and  glorious  import,  "  Because  ye  have 
known  the  Father." 

"  To  know  God"  or  "  Christ,"  in  the  dialect  of  heaven, 
is  a  term  expressive  of  a  peculiar  operation  directed 
towards  the  Supreme  Being,  which  in  its  entireness  as 
produced  by  the  Spirit  I  do  not  pretend  to  explain  ade- 
quately ;  but  on  which,  we  may  at  least  be  certain,  the 
understanding  and  the  affections  are  both  engaged, — the 
one  informing,  the  others  animating,  much  in  the  manner 
which  I  have  already  attempted  to  describe,  when  speaking, 
of  the  progressive  attainments  of  a  Christian  soul  under 
the  tutelage  of  Divine  Grace.  We  find,  or  make,  many 
divisions  and  sub-divisions  of  our  mind ;  we  "  know"  with 
one  part,  we  "  feel"  with  another,  and  so  forth  ;  the  Spirit 
of  God  regards  these  compartments  very  slightly,  and  with 
a  single  impulse  converts  the  whole  man  to  His  purpose. 
Nor  would  I  delay  you  among  these  minuter  inquiries  as 
to  the  import  of  a  word,  except  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
one  important  practical  conclusion.  It  is  that,  the  use  of 
the  term  "  Knowledye^^  of  God  to  express  the  entire  con- 
version of  the  whole  nature  to  that  Great  Being,  seems 
clearly  enough  to  carry  with  it  one  important  principle ; 
namely, — that  the  apostles  considered,  that  a  right  appre- 
hension of  God,  if  once  obtained  in  all  its  perfection,  drew 
with  it  by  a  sort  of  moral,  or  at  least  a  spiritual  necessity, 
(a  necessity  according  to  the  laws  of  divine  grace)  a  real 
practical  love  of  Him.  "  This  is  life  ete>-7ial,  to  know  thee 
the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  has  sent." 
And  a  remarkable  expression  in  Jeremiah  makes  it  iden- 


108 


The  Growth  of  the 


[SERM.  VII. 


tical  with  the  chief  exercises  of  benevolence.  "  He  (Josiah) 
judged  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  needy ;  then  it  was  well 
with  him :  was  not  this  to  know  me  ?  saith  the  Lord."  (xxii. 
16.) 

But  what  is  the  extent  or  compass  of  this  knowledge  of 
God  which  is  thus  to  purify  the  whole  being  ?  The  text 
replies,  when  it  declares  "ye  have  known  the  Father}''  To 
know  God  as  the  Father — of  the  World, — of  Christ  Jesus, 
— and,  through  Him,  of  the  inner  world  and  family  of 
believers, — is  to  adore  the  source  of  so  much  that  is  wise, 
and  powerful,  and  compassionate.  To  "  know"  here  is  to 
"  love  ;"  this  light  of  knowledge  cannot  be  without  heat  of 
affection.  Remember,  ye  who  read  and  dispute,  and  call 
your  disputation  "  Knowledge,"  that  the  Knowledge  of 
which  Inspiration  speaks,  is  the  Knowledge  not  of  a  thing 
but  of  a  person,  not  of  a  person  merely  but  of  a  God,  not 
of  a  God  only  but  of  a  Father  I 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  remember  also, — that  duly  to 
know  this  God  as  a  Father  you  must  know  the  facts  by 
which  His  fatherhood  has  manifested  itself  upon  earth  ;  and 
that  these  facts  are  contained  exclusively  in  one  unerring 
depository,  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by 
the  Word  of  God." 

It  is  as  the  advocate  of  the  diffusion  of  that  Word  of 
God  in  your  own  vicinity,  among  your  own  dependents, 
that  I  am  here  this  day.  God  who  has  made  Faith  depend 
upon  the  spread  of  His  Word,  has  made  the  spread  itself 
of  His  Word  depend  on  causes  even  more  human  and 
secondary.  I  can  seldom  undertake  a  task  like  the 
present,  even  in  the  most  restricted  sphere  of  local  charity, 
without  astonishment  at  reflecting  on  the  extent  of  this 
principle  of  mutual  dependence  of  man  on  man  in  the 
universe  of  God ! 

Wondrous,  complicated  machinery  of  Providence  !  We 
know  not  what  His  real  ultimate  purpose  may  be  with 
regard  to  these  poor  beings.    We  only  know  that,  what- 


SEKM.  VII.] 


Divine  Life. 


109 


ever  it  be,  it  will  be  wisest  and  best,  since  it  will  liave 
been  His.  Nor  does  it  militate  against  His  wisdom  tlius 
to  suspend  man  on  man :  nay,  it  redounds  to  His  wisdom. 
A  macbine  of  infinite  intricacy  only  proves  an  operator  of 
infinite  skill.  Yet  with  all  this,  bow  awful  it  is  to  reflect, 
bow  astounding  to  capacities  like  ours,  tbat  the  everlast- 
ing destinies  of  so  many  undying  essences  should  in  all 
human  probability  be  suspended  upon  the  apparently 
casual  emotions  of  some  hundred  of  their  fellow-creatures ! 
that  under  the  high  mysterious  permission  of  Providence, 
a  pang  of  wretched  avarice  in  one  person  here  may  in  the 
process  of  events  condemn  a  soul  to  eternal  ignorance  of 
God ; — that  another,  to  reserve  the  purchase  of  some  paltry 
article  of  dress  or  ornament  may  contribute  to  deprive  one 
of  her  own  sex  of  the  instruction  which  one  day  would 
have  saved  her  from  degradation  and  ruin, — and  thus  may 
become  in  a  manner  an  accomplice  in  the  destruction  of 
an  unhappy  sister ; — that  another  because,  as  the  phrase  is, 
he  would  not  be  "  talked  out  of  his  money" — ashamed  of 
generosity, — (for  men  can  be  ashamed  of  a  good  impulse) 
through  some  momentary  caprice,  should  have  it  in  his 
power  quietly  to  sign  the  death-warrant  of  some  miserable 
child  ill-provided,  ill-instructed, — abandoned  to  idleness, 
to  profligacy,  perhaps  at  last  to  public  crime  and  public 
execution!  Oh,  may  the  God  who  has,  for  your  own  trial, 
left  such  powers  in  your  hands, — may  He,  I  pray,  teach 
you  on  such  occasions  as  these  how  to  use  them ! 

I  have  been  discoursing  of  "little  children"  at  great 
length  to  you  in  all  their  figurative  applications.  When 
I  thus  come  to  the  reality  I  scarcely  know  how  to  proceed. 
But  I  must  be  their  spokesman;  they  cannot  speak  for 
themselves ;  many  of  them  know  not  the  real  value  of  the 
religious  knowledge  they  are  receiving,  nor  the  terrible  loss 
if  they  are  to  receive  it  no  more.  But  oh  !  the  World  will 
soon  teach  these  exiles  from  your  charity  that  Hell  is  open 
VOL.  II.— 10 


110 


The  Groivth  of  the  Divine  Life.      [serm.  vil. 


to  receive  those  whom  you  have  banished  from  the  path  to 
heaven  I  And  in  such  an  event, — wliat  shall  we  say  of  the 
Judgment  of  God  who  has  not  given  to  any  being  in  this 
church  one  farthing  of  wealth  for  which  He  is  not  exacting 
a  rigorous  account.  Eemember  the  parable  of  the  talents; 
and  remember  that  even  the  luckless  wretch  who  "  buried" 
his  talent  may  be  outdone  by  him  who  squanders  it  in  pur- 
poses of  evil.  The  collection  of  this  day  is  of  vast  import- 
ance to  the  success  of  the  establishment;  over  and  above 
your  annual  subscriptions  it  is  essential  that  you  should  be 
liberal  now.  Brethren!  Christians!  you  must  not  shut 
3''our  hearts  upon  these  young  creatures,  by  every  tie  of 
neighborhood  the  appropriate  objects  of  your  charity, — 
whose  angels  in  heaven  are  watching  this  moment  the 
changes  of  your  minds?  Shall  Christ  in  vain  cry  aloud  to 
suffer  these  children  to  approach  Him,  and  will  you  forbid 
them  ?  . . .  I  said,  a  while  ago,  that  these  purposes  of  gene- 
rosity or  avarice  would  be  casual  and  accidental.  But  no, 
— they  are  not  casual !  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  affirm,  that 
even  in  this  matter,  mighty  agencies  are  at  work  at  this 
moment  in  your  hearts.  The  Spirit  of  Love,  and  the  Hater 
of  souls,  who  would  rejoice  to  ruin  you  in  ruining  these 
little  ones,  are  busy  amongst  you  I  The  point  to  each  may 
be  a  slight  one,  but  it  shows  how  the  balance  inclines  as 
well  as  if  thousands  were  at  stake.  Hesitate  not,  brethren ! 
Follow  the  loving  impulse  where  it  leads  you !  And  if  I 
bavc  told  you  aright  this  morning,  of  the  progress  of  a 
Christian  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  if,  as  I  spoke,  you 
aspired  after  such  a  progress,  and  if  you  believe  with  St 
John  that  he  who  will  love  "  God  whom  he  has  not  seen" 
must  be  able  to  "love  his  brother  whom  he  has  seen" — 
then,  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  Charity,  look  upon  these 
objects  of  Christian  affection,  test  the  reality  of  your  feelings 
by  the  reality  of  your  works,  and  uniting  as  the  redeemed 
of  Christ  in  this  holy  tribute  to  the  children  of  His  love, 
teach,  oh  teach  these  young  but  immortal  spirits  to  "  Know 
the  Father." 


SERMON  VIII. 


LESSONS  FROM  A  MONARCH'S  DEATH. 

fPreached  on  the  Sunday  after  tlie  death  of  William  IV.) 

Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, — Remove  the  diadem,  and  take  off  the  crown  I — 
EzEE.  xxi.  26. 

The  religion  which  we  profess,  brethren !  is  at  once  the 
most  peaceable,  the  most  obedient,  the  most  loyal, — and 
the  most  levelling,  equalizing,  and  humiliating, — religion 
in  the  world.  While  our  whole  faith  breathes  the  spirit  of 
submission  to  all  constituted  authority,  and  in  confirmation 
of  its  requisitions  declares  that  God  Himself  ( — doubtless 
to  assist  us  in  imagining  to  ourselves  His  Supreme  Em- 
pire— )  has  ordained  the  existence  of  governments  and 
policies  on  earth,  and  while  it  thus  continually  adjures  us 
by  our  loyalty  to  our  God  to  be  loyal  to  His  officers  and 
servants; — at  the  very  same  time  it  assimilates  the  prince 
and  the  peasant  in  one  lowly  condition,  and  its  stated  services 
witness,  united  in  the  community  of  their  filial  relation 
before  the  Heavenly  Father,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
mighty  and  the  mean.  The  Spirit  of  that  Faith,  "whose 
service  is  perfect  freedom,"  makes  all  its  possessors  obedient, 
just  because  it  enfranchises  them  all;  in  liberating  them 
from  the  dominion  of  Satan,  it  reconciles  them  to  all  legiti- 
mate earthly  thrones.  Christianity  is  indeed  the  religion 
of  social  order  and  genuine  patriotism.    The  wisdom  that 


112 


Lessons  from 


[SERM.  VIII. 


descends  from  heaven  is  full  of  peace  and  promise  for  the 
kingdoms,  as  well  as  for  the  individuals^  of  our  earth;  it  is 
the  true  bond  and  ligature  of  i)ublic  subordhiation ;  it  is 
full  of  loyalty  and  even  devoted ncss  to  appointed  authori- 
ties, at  the  very  time  that  (in  another  sense  and  view,)  it 
rends  the  barriers  that  rank  has  established  between  men, 
and  equalizes  all  in  the  sight  of  a  just  and  holy  God.  And 
not  only  do  these  apparent  contrarieties  coexist,  but  the 
one  actually  arises  out  of  the  other.  The  same  unworldly 
humility  which  makes  all  Christians  feel  themselves  on  a 
common  lowly  level, — the  same  wisdom  (holy  and  heaven- 
taught)  Avhieh  lets  them  see  that  all  mankind  are  one  in 
original  corruption, — these  qualities  it  is  which,  by  natural 
consequence,  inspire  them  with  willing  attachment  to 
authorities  appointed  of  their  God.  The  sj)ir)tual  church 
of  Christ  is  indeed  the  true  republic  political  dreamers  have 
only  imagined  ;  tliere  alone  the  theories  of  universal  equality 
are  fully  realized  ;  but  it  is  the  very  essence  of  this  equality 
to  produce  submissiveness  to  all  things  but  vice, — for  it  is 
the  equality  of  hearts  equally  sinful,  redeemed  by  a  salva- 
tion equally  gratuitous.  The  happy  members  of  this  great 
polity  of  Believers  acknowledge  that  they  stand  before 
God  undistinguished  save  as  Uis  mercy  may  please  to  dis- 
tinguish them;  they  exult  in  no  privileges  but  the  holiness 
which  is  the  gift  of  His  Spirit;  and,  even  in  their  joy  at 
the  possession  of  that  unspeakable  blessing,  they  rejoice 
with  unenvying  humility,  and  ask  not, — ichich  is  "to  sit  on 
the  right  or  the  left  band  of  Christ  in  Ilis  kingdom."  In 
such  a  state  of  mind  (the  true  Eden  of  our  souls, — the  true 
recovery  of  our  perished  paradise, — )  the  differences  that 
during  this  brief  hour  of  existence  are  placed  between  man 
and  man  would  become  wholly  indifferent,  if  these  differ- 
ences did  not  themselves  imply  rights  which  originate 
duties,  that  call  for  constant  Christian  obedience,  and  for 
the  careful  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  meekness  which  alone 
can  make  that  obedience  to  temporal  superiors,  pleasing  to 


SERM.  VIII.] 


a  MonarcKs  Death. 


113 


tbe  God  -who  commands  it,  or  a  pleasure  to  man  who 
renders  it.  Hence, — tlie  enthusiasm  that  supports  with  a 
rampart  of  hearts  and  arms  the  constitutions  of  free  coun- 
tries, is  not  merely  justified  but  encouraged  by  our  high  and 
holy  faith ;  and  not  only  lives  but  lives  best,  where  Chris- 
tian humility  has  made  its  home.  Our  faith  is  not  formed 
solely  for  contemplative  solitude,  though  it  often  loves  and 
affects  it ;  when  once  this  vital  principle  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  heart,  it  can  animate  and  vivify  evenj  duty, 
no  less  public  than  private.  It  is  as  universal  as  the  ligJd, 
that  so  often  is  employed  as  its  emblem.  The  Christian, 
brethren!  is  the  true  politician.  No  crisis  or  conjuncture 
can  take  him  by  surprise.  His  rules  of  action  in  the  storms 
of  public  commotion,  are  as  simple  and  undeviating  as  in 
the  privacy  of  his  domestic  life.  In  no  case  to  prefer  his 
personal  interest  to  the  public  good,  to  hold  the  faith  of  his 
Lord  and  Saviour  the  main  instrument  of  general  happiness, 
and  its  diffusion  the  great  object  of  social  changes,  and,  as 
a  part  (and  no  unimportant  part)  of  that  faith,  to  stand  by 
the  forms  of  authority  that  time,  law,  and  experience  have 
consecrated,  and  regard  disobedience  to  such  a  supremacy 
warrantable  only  when  obedience  to  the  higher  authority 
of  God,  {plainly  revealed  in  his  Scriptures)  interferes  to 
command  it.  Oh  brethren !  if  our  hearts  were  but  duly 
sanctified  with  the  beautiful  humility  of  Christ,  how  little 
would  the  busy  casuistry  of  political  reasoners  disturb  or 
perplex  us!  How  little  our  fidelity  to  earthly  denomina- 
tions could  be  tampered  or  trifled  with,  if,  abandoning  the 
petty  ambition  that  makes  each  of  us  strive  to  be  his  own 
king  and  governor,  we  could  become  informed  by  that 
Spirit  of  God,  which,  whether  it  move  over  a  physical  or 
moral  chaos,  is  alike  the  Spirit  of  order,  harmony,  and 
peace ! 

I  cannot  believe,  brethren  !  but  that  I  have  your  sympa- 
thy in  this  line  of  observation.  When  the  general  mind  is 
roused  by  recent  change,  and  the  pnlsc  of  a  naticMi  b^ats 

10* 


Lessons  from 


[SERM.  VIII. 


quick  with  unwonted  emotion,  God  forbid,  if  that  emotion 
be  a  warrantable  one,  tliat  the  ministers  of  Christ  should 
be  dead  to  its  impulses,  that  the  pulpit  alone  should  be 
insulated  from  the  universal  excitement.  ...  Our  religion 
teaches  us  no  such  maxim.  In  making  us  strive  to  be 
guides  to  our  fellow-men,  it  docs  not  make  us  cease  to  be 
iheir  foUow-mcn.  I  say,  God  forbid  that  we  should  substi- 
tute for  Christianity  an  unchristian  stoicism!  that  when  a 
nation  is  in  tears  our  eyes  alone  should  be  dry,  that  when 
it  rejoices  in  the  fervor  of  a  renewed  and  augmented 
loyalty,  ?re  aZo?je  should  affect  a  frigid  indifterence!  Our 
Master  did  not  feel  so  towards  His  country,  nor  do  we 
towards  ours.  The  Divine  Philanthropist  who  laid  down  his 
life  for  the  ivorld,  was  also  the  first  of  patriots  w1ien  He 
wept  over  the  City  of  David,  as  lie  was  the  first  o^frientls, 
when  "  having  loved  Sis  own  which  were  in  the  world,  He 
loved  them  unto  the  end."  No,  the  Christian  philosopher 
knows  too  well  the  universality  of  his  religion  in  its  appli- 
cation to  human  hearts,  to  fear  matching  it  with  any 
conjecture  of  human  events ;  let  me  add,  that  the  Christian 
minister  knows  too  well  his  duty,  not  to  feel  that  in  all  the 
changes  of  public  affairs,  in  all  the  revolutions  of  public 
opinion,  it  is  his  calling  not  to  disregard  but  to  direct  them  ; 
— that  he  is  set  as  on  a  liglit-house  in  the  midst  of  these 
waves,  to  hold  out  the  light  of  eternal  truth  to  the  wan- 
derers, and  to  hold  it  out  only  the  more  strenu.ously  the 
more  the  waters  rise  and  roar. 

But  brethren !  if  on  the  one  hand  our  Faith  thus 
strengthens  the  thrones  of  princes,  and  confirms  peace 
upon  the  earth, — if  it  encourages  generous  devotedness  to 
country  and  kindred  by  the  example  of  Christ  himself,  and 
sanctifies  our  chivalrous  feelings  of  attachment  to  order 
and  government  by  making  them,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  our 
chivalry  to  the  Cross, — it  also  teaches  another  and  a  cor- 
responding lesson.  It  is  not  less  at  home  in  the  palace 
than  in  the  cottage. — It  whispers  in  the  ears  of  princes 


SEEM.  VIII.]  a  Monarches  Death.  115 


themselves  the  same  doctrine  of  humble-hearted  trust 
which  it  suggests  to  the  poorest  of  their  people ;  and  to 
kings  unceasingly  urges,  how  awful  is  their  duty  to  the 
King  of  kings! — And  in  no  position  does  the  inherent 
Supremacy  of  our  Religion  appear  more  conspicuous  than 
in  its  ministrations  among  the  great  ones  of  the  earth. 
This  is,  indeed,  the  Religion  by  which  "Every  valley  is 
exalted — every  mountain  and  hill  brought  low."  Where 
the  just  and  becoming  deference  of  worldly  inferiority 
would  scarcely  venture  to  approach  the  same  inferiority, 
when  ennobled  by  the  high  commission  of  the  Gospel, 
fears  not  to  come  forward  to  threaten  or  console. — It  is 
the  privilege  of  the  appointed  servant  of  God  to  be  of  no 
rank  or  of  all  ranks.  He  addresses  not  the  outward  and 
perishing  man,  but  the  inward  man, — the  sinner;  that  in 
his  community  of  sinfulness  shares  one  nature  with  every 
child  of  Adam.  Before  his  eye — if  it  be  indeed  single  and 
purified — vanish  all  the  painted  pomps  of  earthly  state, — 
these  most  useful,  but  in  themselves  unsubstantial  accesso- 
ries ; — the  real  and  permanent  Being  (that  is  the  imperish- 
able Soul)  only  is  seen ;  and  in  the  conferences  of  the 
Monarch  with  his  Spiritual  Counsellor,  the  hearts  of  two 
dying  sinners  alone  converse  with  each  other!  The  Minister 
of  Christ  is  the  Ambassador  of  a  mightier  Monarch. — Is 
it  for  him  to  tremble  while  bearing  the  credentials  of  the 
skies,  and  invested  with  tho  light  of  another  world,  he 
calmly  unfolds  the  mystery  of  Eternity  to  a  brother  Spirit 
as  eternal  as  his  own  ? — Is  it  for  him  to  retrench  the  truth 
through  fear  or  favor,  when  he  knows  that  the  anathema  of 
Heaven  is  on  him  if  he  preach  not  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature  that  is  born  of  woman,  and  that  is  born  to  die  ? — 
Is  it  for  such  an  one  to  shrink  from  the  blaze  of  human 
grandeur,  whose  eye  has  been  familiar  with  "  the  likeness 
of  the  appearance  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord?"... And  oh  I 
brethren  I  with  a  more  pathetic  truth,  I  may  ask, — if  such 
an  one  know  (as  assuredly  he  miist  know)  that  the  purple 


116 


Lessons  from 


[SEKM.  VIII. 


is  no  shield  from  sorroiu, — that  tlic  bitter  seeds  of  moral 
and  physical  pain  grow  with  just  as  rank  a  luxuriance  as 
elsewhere,  in  the  courts  of  princes  and  beneath  the  gorgeous 
canopy  of  regal  bowers, — that  higher  power  is  indeed  no 
more  than  "  heavier  toil,  superior  pain," — under  such  a 
conviction,  will  the  deputed  messenger  of  Christ  think  his 
office  to  be  less  needful  in  the  palace  than  the  hovel  ?  No, 
no !  believe  it  (for  all  experience  attests  the  truth) — the 
poor  countryman,  who  from  hour  to  hour  toils  to  procure 
a  pittance  that  he  cannot  reckon  on  for  the  hour  to  come, — 
he,  who  in  literal  fact  is  "  given  day  by  day  his  daily  bread," 
clinging  to  the  outskirts  of  society,  and  (as  it  were)  holding 
himself  on  to  existence  by  hard  incessant  muscular  effort, — 
even  he,  in  all  his  apparent  wretchedness,  does  not  more 
truly  require  the  consolations  of  a  world  of  future  hopes, 
than  the  Being  who  forms  the  glittering  pinnacle  of  society 
itself.  It  is  the  same  life  carried  on  upon  a  higher  level — 
the  same  heart  beating  under  a  dift'erent  garment;  nor  does 
sorrow  cease  to  be  sorrow  in  its  mask  of  pomp  and  equip- 
a":e.  The  Minister  of  God  knows  that  while  commandinof 
obedience  '"for  conscience'  sake,"  the  Bible  recognizes  no 
human  heart  but  one — a  lost  and  ruined  heart ;  and  that, 
to  regenerate  and  restore, — it  likewise  presents  but  one 
universal  and  unqualified  remedy. ...  And  I  catmot  here 
but  pause  to  remark,  how  happy  in  this  particular  is  the 
constitution  of  Church  establishments — in  that  they  diffuse 
through  every  region  of  society  the  currents  of  truth,  that 
they  post  their  spiritual  watchmen  upon  every  ascending 
tier  of  the  social  edifice, — so  that,  if  we  have  those  whose 
duty  it  is  to  speak  comfort  in  the  villages  of  poor  men,  we 
have  also  those  whose  stately  solemn  rank  qualifies  and 
commands  them  to  be  the  monitors  of  Kings ! . . . 

Such  then,  my  brethren  !  is  the  wide-spread  authority  of 
our  Religion  over  all  ranks  and  callings  of  men.  It  ad- 
dresses all, — it  disturbs  none.  It  does  not  alter  the  relative 
positions  of  men  in  time,  but  it  purifies  all  alike  for  eter- 


SERM.  VIII.] 


a  Monarch's  Death. 


117 


nitj.  Ill  commanding  us  to  "  render  unto  CaBsar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's," 
it  asserts  the  universality  of  its  authority  at  the  very  time 
that  it  carefully  distinguishes  it  from  all  earthly  sovereign- 
ties. Our  Religion  came  not  to  disturb  any  empire  but 
that  of  Satan,  it  dethrones  no  Prince  but  the  "  Prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air."  By  the  mouth  of  one  of  its  great- 
est teachers  it  exhorts, — "  that  supplications,  prayers,  inter- 
cessions, and  giving  of  thanks,  be  made  for  all  men  ;  for 
Kings,  and  for  all  that  are  in  authority;''^  at  the  very  same  mo- 
ment that  it  is  busy  in  the  palaces  of  those  great  potentates 
themselves, — reminding  them  through  whom  it  is  that  they 
possess  their  power,  that  even  absolute  sovereignty  is  but 
a  temporary  viceroyalty  for  God,  and  addressing  them  per- 
petually, in  the  words  of  one  who  was  himself  a  king, — 
"  Be  wise,  O  ye  kings !  be  instructed,  ye  judges  of  the 
earth !  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trem- 
bling I" 

I  know,  brethren !  there  exists  in  the  mind  of  no  ra- 
tional man  any  calm  collected  persuasion  that  these  sug- 
gestions of  duty  and  its  eternal  consequences,  are  less 
needful  to  the  greatest  than  to  the  humblest  of  our  earth. 
I  know  that  no  one  past  childhood  will  suffer  himself  to 
dream  that  princes  are  born  to  be  immortal,  or  that  the 
crown  of  earthly  glory  is  "  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth 
not  away."  And  yet, — it  is  vain  to  deny  it, — the  principle 
is  in  our  nature,  to  be  profoundly  affected  by  the  recurrence 
of  instances  of  the  perishable  tenure  of  grandeur  far  be- 
yond any  dci)th  of  emotion  which  Death,  in  its  mere 
abstract  form,  can  command.  We  may  know,  with  the 
most  undoubting  confidence,  that  no  greater  measure  of  life 
no  intcnser  vitality,  is  voucksafed  to  royal  veins  than  in- 
creases,— exults, — glows, — wastes, — perishes, — in  those  of 
the  peasant  on  the  hill-side;  we  may  even  conclude,  with 
all  the  force  of  speculative  conviction,  that  happiness  is, 
after  all,  pretty  equally  diffused  over  all  classes  of  men ; — 


118  Lessons  from  [serm.  Vlll. 


and  yet, — the  event  prostrates  our  philosophy !  What  ? 
arc  not  our  daily  obituaries  crowded  with  names,  every  one 
of  which  may  well  be  to  our  thoughts  the  Index  of  hours 
of  sickness  and  agony, — every  one  of  which  the  active 
imagination  may  multiply  into  hosts  of  weeping  friends, 
orphaned  children  and  widowed  hearths,  and  the  lesser 
sorrows  of  a  whole  circle  of  intimates,  until  at  last,  at  the 
extreme  verge  of  acquaintanceship,  the  feeling  fades  off 
into  indifference, — every  one  of  which,  I  repeat,  is  the 
centre  of  a  sphere  of  griefs, — and  are  not  our  eyes  each 
successive  day  saluted  by  these  gloomy  registries  of  mor- 
talit}'; — 3'-ct,  where  no  personal  interest  is  concerned,  who 
reads  them  with  even  the  shadow  of  an  emotion  ?  But, — 
when  an  exalted  Name  has  vanished  from  the  earth,  when 
that  which  once  lived  and  breathed, — the  Impersonation  of 
power, — has  been  borne  away  to  be  entombed  in  the'stately 
sepulchre  of  history, — the  general  heart  is  arrested,  the 
mission  of  Death  seems  to  come  direct  from  heaven,  and 
that  decease,  which  is  only  the  fulfilment  of  Nature's  uni- 
versal law,  startles  us  like  a  miracle,  and  seems  to  be  an 
immediate  interference  of  God. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  delay  you  with  any  pro- 
tracted investigations  as  to  the  causes  and  reasons  of  this 
very  interesting  difference  in  the  natural  feelings  upon  the 
occasion  of  misfortunes,  the  same  in  real  experience,  occur- 
ring to  the  great  and  to  the  lowl3^  Yet  perhaps  we  ought 
not  wholly  to  overlook  the  inquiry.  It  may  sometimes  be 
a  mere  form,  or,  at  least,  result,  of  the  veneration  with 
which  we  honor  the  authorities  constituted  in  the  land ; 
which  if  it  be  cultivated  may  arise  to  a  spirit  of  attach- 
ment that  feels  every  grief  of  a  virtuous  public  governor 
as  its  own.  But  the  emotion  is  seldom  thus  unmixed.  No 
doubt  we  cannot  help,  in  spite  of  all  our  reasonings,  con- 
stantly associating  great  happiness  with  great  power ;  and 
the  contrast  of  the  supposed  height  of  enjoyment  with  the 
depths  of  the  feelingless  grave,  creates  a  mixture  of  pity 


SERM.  VIII.] 


a  MonarcJis  Death. 


119 


and  surprise  which  meaner  instances  cannot  reach,  because 
they  cannot  imply  the  contrast.  And,  even  apart  from  any 
ascription  of  happiness,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  contrast 
between  a  power  that  subjected  all  and  a  weakness  that  is 
itself  subjected  to  the  common  lot,  has  a  tendency  to  affect 
the  soul  with  a  great  and  unusual  emotion.  Again, — lov- 
ing power  as  we  do  ourselves,  we  cannot  help  in  some 
measure  sympathizing  with  its  possessors; — particular  cases 
of  envy  or  jealousy  or  such  like  omitted,  we  naturally  enter 
into  their  successes,  exult  in  their  exultation,  weep  with 
their  sorrows,  and  are  stricken  with  their  fell.  Instances 
of  this  are  abundant.  To  such  a  degree  of  force  may  this 
sympathy  arise,  that  in  the  days  of  the  almost  miraculous 
successes  of  the  great  tyrant  of  this  century,  there  were 
men  (and  it  is  intelligible  that  there  should  be)  who  in  the 
fascination  of  his  glory,  and  though  included  with  their 
country  as  his  enemies  in  war,  almost  forgot  the  ties  of 
country  and  allegiance,  and  would  in  their  delirium  have 
given  up  all  to  one  who  seemed  born  the  natural  governor 
of  the  world.  I  need  not  refer  to  the  striking  instance  of 
the  same  principle  afforded  in  the  arts  of  fictitious  repre- 
sentation, where  agonies  that  would  lose  their  interest  as 
the  agonies  of  daily  people,  move  us  with  the  deepest  pity 

as  the  agonies  of  kings  

I  will  not  detain  you  with  any  further  examination  of 
this  point  as  a  matter  of  theory ;  but  I  cannot  forbear  mak- 
ing one  or  two  observations  on  it,  as  a  matter  of  practice. 
In  the  first  place,  that  where  it  exists  merely  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  sympathy  with  power,  it  is  often  of  the 
highest  benefit  to  public  stability  ;  and  that  hence  we  may 
remark  how  admirable  is  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
Providence  who  overrules  a  feeling  in  itself  so  questiona- 
ble, to  the  best  purposes  of  human  peace  and  happiness. 
In  the  next  place,  that  where  our  regret  at  the  accidents  of 
greatness  arises  from  a  veneration  for  legitimate  authority, 
and  for  the  great  as  bearing  it,  it  is  a  feeling  wholly  to  be 


120 


Lessons  from 


[SEKM.  VIII. 


encouraged  ami  strengthened.  And  in  the  third  place, — 
that  with  all  this  natural  devotion  to  power,  it  is  truly 
melancholy  to  reflect, — how  sadly  tlic  principle  seems  to 
expire  just  wliere  it  ouglitto  act  in  its  greatest  vigor.  Our 
Bible  unl'olds  to  us  a  King  whom  it  styles  "the  blessed  and 
only  Potentate,  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords;  who 
only  hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  the  light  which  no  man 
can  approach  unto ;" — a  monarch  whose  power  is  infinite 
and  whose  love  is  unbounded  as  his  power ;  One  wliose 
holy  sovereignty  is  formed  to  attach  every  better  feeling  of 
our  hearts,  and  who  sets  us  here  with  the  sole  view  of  dis- 
ciplining and  confirming  those  feelings: — subjects  and 
soldiers,  to  vindicate  his  throne,  and  combat  for  his  cause 
with  "weapons  not  carnal."  Yet  the  man  whose  heart  beats 
for  his  country's  cause,  is  dead  to  the  patriotism  of  "a  bet- 
ter country,  that  is  an  heavenly ;"  the  man  who  boasts  (and 
honorably  boasts)  that  he  loves  and  appreciates  the  free 
constitution  of  his  birth,  has  no  feeling  or  understanding 
for  the  magnificent  polity  of  heaven ;  and  he  who  would 
shed  his  blood  to  defend  the  kingdom  of  his  earthly  master, 
has  no  solicitude  "to  sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Alas !  we  worship  the  shadows  of  Power,  and  we  have  no 
adoration  for  the  substance  1  We  pour  out  a  world  of  feel- 
ing, treasures  of  rich  and  noble  emotion,  upon  the  instru- 
ments of  authority,  the  mere  subordinates  of  God, — and 
we  have  no  loyalty  for  llim  who  moves  the  whole  machi- 
nery, and  from  whom  all  force  is  derived,  not  more  in  the 
physical  universe  of  matter  and  motion,  than  in  the  moral 
world  of  governments, — powers,  principalities,  and  laws ! 

You  know,  brethren,  why  it  is  that  I  address  to  you  this 
day,  remarks  and  exhortations  of  this  character.  You 
know  that  since  we  last  met  in  this  place,  a  great  event  has 
agitated  the  public  mind, — an  event  of  the  kind  that  makes 
epochs  in  the  history  of  nations.  At  such  a  time  the 
dullest  awake  to  reflection ;  the  reflective  are  quickened  to 
keen  and  serious  thought.    Great  events  of  all  kinds  are 


SERM.  VIII.] 


a  Monarch'' s  Death. 


121 


awful  monitors ;  but,  most  of  all,  events  that  come  about 
according  to  laws  of  regular  succession ; — these  apprise  us 
with  a  power  that  cannot  be  evaded,  of  the  unceasing  flow 
of  the  time  which  we  are  all  so  deeply  interested  to  employ 
to  purpose.  In  being  seras  of  national  history,  they  also 
become  to  every  individual,  aeras  in  his  own  personal  his- 
tory. They  force  upon  us  the  conviction  that  we  are  in- 
deed in  the  midst  of  a  system  of  universal  change ;  that 
we  ourselves  are  under  this  law  of  all  created  being ;  that 
every  hour  we  too  are  changing  for  good  or  evil ;  until 
that  last  solemn  hour  when  in  the  Apostle's  language,  "we 
shall  all  be  changed," — to  change  no  more !  These  are 
reflections  which  every  great  alteration  in  the  story  of  na- 
tions must  bring  with  it.  We  can  arrive  at  no  new  land- 
mark upon  the  long  pathway  of  history,  which  will  not 
summon  such  reflections  as  these. 

But  I  would  ill  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  our  medita- 
tions at  this  time,  if  I  confined  your  thoughts  to  the  gene- 
ral subject  of  earthly  and  successive  change.  This,  breth- 
ren !  is  no  common  change.  The  Inheritor  of  the  throne 
of  a  thousand  years  has  passed  to  his  fathers.  Death  has 
been  busy,  reading  once  more  his  terrible  lesson  to  living 
men ;  proving  in  a  new  instance  of  power,  that  he  is  indeed 
"the  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed;"  and  that  no  con- 
trol (however  widely  recognized  on  earth)  shall  interfere 
with  his  supremacy,  save  His,  who,  "  through  death  de- 
stroyed Ilim  that  had  the  power  of  death."  Alas !  breth- 
ren, what  availed  it,  that  placed  at  the  summit  of  the  first 
social  system  on  earth,  our  departed  Monarch  saw  no  re- 
cognized dignity  intervene  between  himself  and  the  beings 
of  a  higher  world  ?  What  availed  it,  that  he  stood  (by  the 
constitution  of  his  country)  the  Source  of  all  the  innumer- 
able streams  of  honor  and  distinction  that  separate,  and 
(like  other  streams)  while  they  separate  really  unite,  the 
divisions  of  society,  in  this  vast  and  complicated  empire? 
These  things  vanish  as  a  morning  dream,  when  from  the 

VOL.  II.— 11 


122 


Lessons  from 


[SERM.  VIII. 


secret  Throne  where  sits  the  Governor  of  all  worlds,  is 
heard  the  sentence  of  the  text, — "llcmove  the  diadem,  and 
take  oft'  tlie  crown!"  Of  all  the  tributes  that  his  subjects 
paid  him,  he  takes  with  him  from  the  world  but  one, — you 
pay  it,  brethren!  in  this  temple!  Yes!  He  for  whom 
your  prayers  so  often  have  risen  to  the  throne  of  heaven, 
he  for  whose  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  each  Sabbath- 
day,  ten  thousand  ministers  offered  the  incense  of  their 
supplication, — he  is  no  more  the  subject  of  prayer ;  let  us 
trust  in  God  that  he  is  gone  to  receive  its  fruits !  Your 
labors  here  are  true  and  permanent  benefits ;  the  loyalty  of 
prayer  is  the  support  of  monarchs  when  all  other  supports 
fail.  "  There  is  no  king,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "  saved  by  the 
mullitude  of  an  /ios<.... Behold,  the  eye  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
them  that  fear  him,  upon  them  that  hope  in  his  mercy." 
In  the  lovely  relationship  of  prayer  the  highest  and  the 
lowest  may  be  invisibly  united;  those  who  could  not  aid 
their  monarch  in  any  other  way,  were  rich  in  prayer;  and 
often  doubtless  the  devoted  piety  of  some  lowly  subject,  by 
its  secret  interest  with  Christ,  has  aided  the  ruler  of  mil- 
lions in  obtaining  favor  with  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe! 

Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  brethren !  we  preach  to  you  of 
death  and  eternity.  It  is  the  great,  the  perpetual,  burthen 
of  our  discourse.  We  cannot  help  its  monotony.  The  sin 
that  brought  death  into  the  world  is  in  fault  for  that. 
When  men  are  holy  enough  to  hail  the  death  that  opens 
the  pathway  to  eternity,  we  will  cease  the  strain, — but  not 
till  then!.... And  with  all  our  repetitions  and  variations  of 
the  one  tremendous  theme,  how  seldom  we  can  enforce  it 
upon  men's  hearts !  how  seldom  we  can  fix  a  thought  that 
will  pass  the  doors  of  our  churches !  But  here,  brethren  ! 
you  have  Circumstances  themselves  and  History  preaching 
to  you !  These  terrible  orators  deal  not  in  figures  of 
rhetoric  or  artificial  declamation.  The  stern  reasoning  of 
events  is  all  they  bring!  Where  we  argue  to  the  under- 
standing, they  address  the  eyes  and  the  heart !  And  would 


SERM.  VIII.] 


a  Monarch's  Death. 


123 


to  heaven  that  at  this  hour  (how  much  better  than  a  world 
of  sermons!)  it  were  given  to  us  all  to  cast  an  eye  upon 
the  scene  that  now  encompasses  the  perishing  remnants  of 
departed  Royalty !  The  dignity  of  the  sovereign  still  in- 
vests the  lifeless  form ;  it  is  fitting  that  the  useful  distinc- 
tions of  time  should  follow  to  the  tomb, — if  they  deepen 
the  impressions  of  authority  during  life,  they  become  still 
more  touching  instructors  in  death.  Man,  by  a  most  just 
and  noble  instinct  of  respect,  venerates  the  body  for  the 
soul;  and  honors  the  temple,  though  the  God  has  fled. 
But  there^ — night  after  night,  and  during  days  whose  gloom 
is  more  melancholy  than  night,  the  stately  vigils  of  a  king 
are  held !  The  magnificent  chamber  darkened  to  the  like- 
ness of  a  tomb,  the  long  array  of  mourning  watchers 
(mourning  in  truth  as  well  as  show, — for  our  monarch  was 
loved  by  his  people !)  the  sadness  that  hangs  like  a  cloud 
over  that  majestic  pile, — itself  a  monument  of  buried 
ages, — the  dreary  bustle  of  preparation  for  the  final  solem- 
nities of  a  regal  interment, — these  are  things  that  would 
move,  if  anything  could  move.  And  if  I  dare  unfold  the 
page  of  a  deeper  sorrow,  if  I  presume  to  point  your  eyes 
to  the  venerated  form  of  that  Imperial  Widow,  the  Woman 
of  many  virtues,  whom  her  subjects  knew  but  to  love, — if 
I  point  to  that  form  bent  by  a  sorrow  only  the  more  affect- 
ing, because  struggling  to  be  repressed  in  the  midst  of  that 
scene  of  crowded  and  stately  woe, — it  is  not  that  I  would 
idly  intrude  upon  griefs  too  sacred  for  public  utterance,  but 
because  I  would  beseech  you  in  prayer  to  ask  of  the  Com- 
forter of  mourners,  to  be  witli  her  in  her  affliction.  But 
God  be  praised !  we  have  reason  to  know  that  she  is  no 
stranger  to  that  path  of  consolation. 

Brethren !  if  it  indeed  be  "  good  to  go  to  the  house  of 
mourning,"  you  have  here  ample  means  of  familiarizing 
your  hearts  with  plaintive  and  touching  traits.  Need  I 
remind  you  that, — as  if  to  aggravate  the  contrast  between 
the  excitement  and  fulness  of  life  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 


124 


Lessons  from 


[SERM,  VIII. 


perishable  tenure  of  its  glories  on  tlie  other, — owv  noble- 
souled  monarch  was  sinking  fastest  upon  the  very  day  that 
his  people  were  exulting  in  the  anniversary  of  their  coun- 
try's greatest  victory  ?  that  the  pomp  of  mimic  warfare  in 
an  hundred  fields  was  animating  the  general  heart  with 
images  and  portraitures  of  lofty  achievement,  at  the  very 
hour  when  gloom  was  deepening  over  the  couch  of  a  king, 
and  in  those  who  hoped  the  longest  hope  itself  was  wrest- 
ling with  despair?  Or  shall  I  remind  you, — for  in  such 
instances  the  minutest  circumstances  acquire  a  melancholy 
interest, — that  almost  his  last  beam  of  intellect  was  spent 
by  our  true-hearted  monarch  in  a  recollection  of  the  glories 
of  his  country  and  of  her  chieftain  ; — his  last  bodily  effort, 
in  grasping  the  banner  that  symbolized  her  fame?  .But 
why  do  I  introduce  such  topics?  He  is  no  wise  man, 
brethren !  who  neglects  the  mention  of  such  incidents  as 
these,  or  disregards  or  repulses  the  emotions  they  tend  to 
produce.  They  all, — however  slight  in  themselves,  and 
often  the  more  because  they  are  so, — aid  in  deepening  the 
memorable  contrast  between  all  that  this  earth  can  afford, — 
its  glories,  its  power,  nay,  its  very  virtues, — and  the  im- 
mutable attributes  of  the  world  to  come.  And  even  where 
they  do  not  produce  this  determinate  effect,  they  act  to 
soften  the  heart  with  a  gentle  and  benevolent  sympathy, — 
the  very  soil  that  Christianity  asks  to  be  sown  in  !....And 
therefore  I  do  not  hesitate  to  remind  you  of  the  last  and 
most  touching  of  these  contrasts, — that  if  he  whom  we 
lament  had  but  lived  a  few  days  longer,  had  he  but  lived 
in  health  to  see  the  setting  of  to-morrow  s  sun,  the  celebra- 
tion of  his  commemorated  accession, — his  seventh  anniver- 
sary,— was  to  have  filled  the  nation  with  demonstrations  of 
joy, — and  we  may  honestly  say  it,  no  feigned  or  unreal 
joy  !....Let  us  hope  that  the  joy  which  is  silenced  on  earth 
is  taken  up  in  heaven !  The  temptations  and  difliculties  of 
courtly  life  will  not  be  forgotten  in  the  estimate  of  a  mer- 
ciful judge;  and  if  we  trust  the  accounts  of  the  calmness^ 


SERM.  Ylii.]  a  Monarclis  Death. 


125 


serenity,  and  confidence  of  his  latter  days,  we  may  hope 
that  on  that  day,  while  we  are  walking  in  mourning  gar- 
ments and  wearing  the  solemn  hues  of  duteous  regret, — in 
the  heavenly  Zion  there  may  be  the  "  oil  of  joy"  instead  of 
our  "mourning,"  the  "garment  of  praise"  instead  of  our 
"  spirit  of  heaviness ;"  that  the  angels  may  there  be  cele- 
brating a  loftier  "  accession''''  to  a  brigJder  crown, — even  the 
"  crown  of  life  which  the  Lord  hath  promised  to  them  that 
love  him." 

Brethren !  a  different  occasion  now  calls  for  the  feelings 
of  national  joy  which  to-morrow's  anniversary  was  to  have 
brought.  He  is  criminal,  unworthy,  unchristian,  who  re- 
fuses them.  I  have  before  told  you  that  our  Faith  not 
merely  countenances  but  encourages  those  noble  enthusi- 
asms, which  exalt  the  approbation  of  legitimate  authority 
into  an  affection;  and  that  it  is  in  the  best  part  of  our 
nature,  to  concentrate  that  affection  for  authority  into  a 
generous  attachment  to  its  bearer.  But  I  am  not  here  to 
call  upon  you  to  stand  resolutely  in  defence  of  public 
order,  whenever  and  however  assailed.  The  weapons  of 
this  place  are  pr ay eis.... And  he  who,  in  the  true  Christian 
spirit,  feels  that  all  countries  are  great  only  in  proportion 
as  they  make  God  their  guide  and  governor, — thus  per- 
petuating, as  it  were,  a  spiritual  theocracy, — will  surely 
not  forget  to  make  his  morning  and  evening  supplications 
to  the  Lord  of  all,  that  in  His  mercy  he  may  direct  the 
counsels  of  the  young  inheritrix  of  so  glorious  an  ancestral 
possession ;  that  Pie  may  inspire  her  with  the  practical 
conviction,  that  she  is  His  deputy,  intrusted  with  His 
authority,  bearing  His  commission ;  that  it  is  at  once  her 
duty  and  her  privilege  to  support  the  public  honor  of  His  . 
name,  and  the  spread  of  His  Gospel, — and  the  stability  of 
His  church,  as  the  means  of  both !  May  the  God  who  has 
so  long  made  Britain  the  modern  Israel  of  His  protection, 
still  hold  over  it,  and  over  her  whose  youthful  arm  now 
rules  it,  His  helping  and  directing  hand ;  that  under  the 

1 1  •• 


126 


Lessons  from  a  Monarch's  Death.    [SEiiM.  vill. 


continuance  of  His  special  favor, — basking  still  in  the 
brightness  of  his  warming  and  enlightening  beams, — our 
country  may  grow  in  the  true  prosperity  of  righteousness  1 
And, — for  1  would  not  that  we  should  part  without  som.e- 
thing  of  a  character  still  more  immediate  and  personal, — ■ 
may  we  too  be  enabled  to  feel  the  importance  each  of  us  of 
his  own  position  in  such  a  country !  to  feel,  that  the  exam- 
ple of  every  man  radiates  farther  than  he  can  himself  see 
or  know, — and  that  it  becomes  him  who  professes  a  pure 
and  holy  faith,  to  evince  by  his  conduct  that  purity  and 
holiness  which  it  prescribes, — "  that  by  well-doing  he  may 
put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men ;" — and  thus  to 
evince  that,  however  malignity  may  misrepresent  our  di- 
vine faith,  none  is  more  unswervingly  true  to  his  earthly 
monarch  than  he  who  owns  allegiance  to  "  that  King  eter- 
nal, immortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God," — to  whom 
"be  honor  and  glory  for  ever  and  ever!  Amen." 


SEEMON  IX. 


DYING  TO  SIN  AND  THE  LAW. 
Te  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ. — Rom.  vii.  4. 

These  words  form  part  of  a  passage  supposed  to  be 
among  the  most  difficult  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostle 
Paul : — one  it  is  thought  of  those  dark  and  involved  argu- 
mentations to  which  the  perplexed  Believer  must  apply  St 
Peter's  designation  of  "hard  to  be  understood,"  and  on 
which  the  Unbeliever  is  almost  justified  in  sarcastically 
commenting  that  the  Revelation  requires  a  Revealcr,  and 
that  the  mystery  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the  world 
is  a  mystery  still.  Though  I  cannot  but  think  (as  I  will 
just  now  endeavor  to  show  you)  that  the  difficulty  has 
here  been  most  needlessly  exaggerated,  and  that  the  per- 
plexity in  the  scriptural  student's  mind  is  derived  rather 
less  from  St  Paul  than  from  St  Paul's  expositors,  whose 
conflict  of  illustrations  produces  obscurity  (as  opticians  tell 
us  that  interferinrj  waves  of  Uriht  produce  darkness); — yet 
even  if  this  passage,  and  many  other  passages  that  occur 
in  the  same  profound  page,  were  really  as  obscure  as  they 
are  sometimes  alleged  to  be,  it  might  reasonably  be  qixes- 
tioned,  how  far  the  fact  of  such  obscurity  ought  to  occasion 
discouragement  to  the  honest  disciple,  or  can  justify  the 
negligent  disparagement  of  the  gainsayer.  It  is  certain 
that,  in  the  practical  working  of  a  revealed  religion,  if 
perspicuity  have  its  general  utility,  occasional  obscurity 


128  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Laic.  [sekm.  ix. 


may  be  shown  to  serve  most  valuable  purposes  also ; — that 
it  manifestly  (and  to  our  daily  experience)  effects  what  no 
other  obvious  disposition  of  things  could  effect,  by  testing 
zeal  for  truth  and  sincerity  of  heart  to  a  degree  highly 
suitable  to  a  state  of  trial ;  while  it  also  provides  for  those 
gradations  and  diversities  of  spiritual  knowledge  so  accord- 
ant with  the  character  of  variety  observable  in  all  the 
works  and  arrangements  of  God.  It  may  also  be  easily 
evinced,  that  the  objection  would  lie  with  nearly  unabated 
force  against  every  form  of  divine  enlightenment  short  of 
that  which  would  violently  constrain  belief;  and  it  may 
then  be  candidly  asked, — remembering  our  Lord's  solemn 
declaration  about  the  inability  of  even  a  Visitant  from  the 
dead  to  overcome  the  infidelity  of  the  Heart, — whether  we 
ought  not  gratefully  to  adore  the  mercy  that  saves  from  a 
measure  of  light  which  would  leave  us  so  utterly,  so  abso- 
lutely inexcusable !  That  men,  under  a  demonstrative 
Christianity,  would  be  better  men,  I  think  exceedingly 
doubtful ;  that,  if  unimproved,  they  would  be  far  more 
guilty,  no  one  surely  can  question. 

Among  the  difficulties  of  Scripture  study  there  are  some 
which  plainly  belong  to  the  form  and  matter  of  the  revela- 
tion itself;  and  these  we  are  to  receive,  as  we  receive  the 
earth  itself  from  the  same  bounteous  hand  for  our  bodily 
sustenance, — as  the  appointed  material  of  necessary,  honor- 
able, and  not  unpleasing  toil.  "  If  thou  searchest  for  wis- 
dom as  for  hid  treasures,^''  says  the  great  Master  of  Prudence, 
intimating  at  once  the  value  and  the  difficulty, — "  then 
shalt  thou  understand  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  find  the 
knowledge  of  God."  (Prov.  ii.  4,  5.)  But,  as  there  are 
these  inevitable  trials  in  the  pursuit  of  religious  truth, — 
difficulties  inherent  in  the  nature  and  circumstances  of  the 
communication  (difficulties,  I  may  add,  which  no  form  or 
theory  of  Christianity,  even  llomanism  quite  as  little  as  any 
other,  has  shown  us  how  to  obviate), — so  there  are  difficul- 
ties extrinsic,  superadded,  and  unnecessary,  which  Ave  our- 


SEEM.  IX.] 


Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


129 


selves  introduce,  and  for  which  our  own  prejudices,  or  van- 
ity, or  caprices,  alone  are  answerable.  Among  these 
sources  of  perplexity  (as  I  am  not  now  to  think  of  enume- 
ratinrj  and  exposing  them)  there  is  one  which  is,  perhaps, 
less  observed  than  any  other,  and  yet  it  would  be  hard  to 
estimate  adequately  how  far  it  has  really  operated  to  ob- 
scure and  entangle  the  revealed  record.  I  mean  the  effort 
to  insulate  the  word  in  separate  oracles,  and  then  to  make 
it  say  in  each  of  them  more  than  it  ■purposes^  perhaps,  to  say 
in  all :  to  find  (in  something  of  the  spirit  of  the  old  Hebrew 
critics)  a  separate  mystery  disconnected  from  all  others  in 
every  phrase,  and  almost  in  every  word.  This, — like  so 
many  of  the  most  seductive  extravagancies  in  every  depart- 
ment of  action  and  of  thought, — is  partly  the  exaggeration 
of  an  excellent  principle,  the  principle  of  unbounded  vene- 
ration for  all,  without  qualification  or  exception,  small  as 
well  as  great,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  given.  But  when 
to  this  is  added  the  tendency  of  an  impatient  curiosity 
(another  exaggeration  of  right  principle)  to  pursue  every 
glimpse  of  light  which  it  fondly  hopes  will  manifest  in  one 
flash  the  whole  mystery  of  God  ;  and  when  this  appetite  for 
a  knowledge  perfect  and  absolute  has  to  work  upon  mate- 
rials so  limited,  it  is  true,  as  are  offered  in  the  compass  of 
the  New  Testament,  but  yet  in  which  at  the  same  time 
comprehensive  comparison  is  so  laborious,  the  result  I 
speak  of  may  surely  be  expected.  We  may  expect  that  on 
the  one  hand  the  force  of  position  will  be  lost,  on  the  other, 
that  phrases  will  often  be  overcharged  with  significancies 
altogether  transcending  the  simple  purport  of  their  inspired 
employers.  You  can  conceive,  that,  if  a  naturalist  had  but 
a  single  leaf  or  flower  to  study,  or  limited  himself  by  some 
perversity  to  it  alone,  he  would  endeavor  to  discover  a 
world  in  his  specimen,  and  exhaust  all  the  powers  of  the 
microscope  to  detect  wonders  within  wonders  without  limit. 
How  this  tendency  to  find  all  things  in  all,  is  increased  by 
the  urgencies  of  controversy,  it  is  needless  to  remark.  If 


130  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law.         [seem.  ix. 


the  botanist  had  to  overthrow  a  rival  theory  of  fructifica- 
tion, or  to  establish  one  of  his  own,  you  know  how  preter- 
naturally  augmented  would  become  his  powers  of  micro- 
scopic vision.  Every  visionary  notion  in  religion  boasts 
its  text  or  two,  and  can  boast  no  more ;  but  its  supporters 
hold  the  text  or  two  so  near  their  eyes  that  they  hide  the 
rest  of  the  Bible. 

Such  remarks  as  these,  bearing  upon  a  very  ordinary 
tendency  in  critics  and  interpreters,  are,  I  believe,  useful  at 
all  times.  They  are  at  present  suggested  by  an  instance  of 
certainly  very  inferior  relative  importance,  inasmuch  as 
no  special  doctrine  appears  to  have  been  based  upon  it ; 
but  which,  nevertheless,  as  being  part  of  a  long  and  most 
momentous  discussion  which  has  formed  the  field  of  con- 
troversy from  (as  it  would  seem)  the  days  of  St  Paul  him 
self,  derives  importance  from  its  situation  and  connections. 
The  context  that  precedes  the  clause  before  us  has  been  by 
many  surrendered  as  hopelessly  obscure;  and  yet  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  the  principal  obscurity  has  been 
created  by  that  closeness  of  inspection  which  lessens  the 
field  of  sight,  accompanied  as  it  usually  is  by  the  compen- 
sating tendency  to  make  each  expression  of  the  inspired 
record  signify  something  above  and  beyond  the  simplicity  of 
the  sacred  Author's  purport.  I  must  now  solicit  your  patient 
attention,  and  beg  to  refer  you  to  your  Bibles  for  the  en- 
tire passage.  I  am  mistaken,  if  a  close  examination  of  the 
whole  do  not  evince  at  once  the  minute  and  perfect  skill 
with  which  the  reasonings  of  the  inspired  writers  are  con- 
structed when  they  appear  to  cursory  view  least  sy.stematic ; 
and  the  soundness  of  the  great  canon, — that  the  first  and 
best  and  most  satisfactory  of  all  investigations  of  Scripture 
is  that  which,  not  confining  itself  to  isolated  phrase,  takes 
in  the  whole  scope  and  connection  of  the  record  as  it  lies. 
I  must  confess,  however,  that  if  a  confirmation  so  honorable 
to  the  structure  of  our  inspired  volume,  and  if  a  simple 
elucidation  of  the  word  of  life,  do  not  bring  their  own  re- 


SERM.  IX.] 


Dying  io  Sin  and  the  Laiu. 


131 


ward,  I  cannot  promise  you  any,  in  an  inquiry  that  must 
necessarily  engage  the  reason  far  more  than  it  can  excite 
the  imagination. 

St  Paul  is  engaged  in  the  management  of  his  great  argu- 
ment relative  to  the  superiority  of  the  Gospel  Dispensation 
above  that  of  Moses,  and  the  necessity  inherent  in  the 
nature  and  connection  of  the  two,  that  the  one  should 
supersede  the  other.  Now,  there  are  two  aspects  in  which 
the  religion  of  Christ  may  be  viewed,  and  we  should  never 
magnify  the  one  at  the  expense  of  the  other, — as  a  Prin- 
ciple of  Life  and  Happiness,  and  as  a  Principle  of  Subjec- 
tion and  Obedience, — life  that  quickens  obedience,  obedi- 
ence that  manifests  life, — life  that  makes  obedience  delight- 
ful, obedience  that  makes  life  visible  and  practical.  If  you 
turn  with  me  to  the  preceding, — the  sixth, — chapter,  you 
will  find  this  representation  a  clue  to  the  involutions  of  its 
rapid  eloquence.  That  chapter  is  composed  of  the  answers 
to  two  objections,  and  the  objections  and  their  respective 
answers  (so  often  hastily  confounded)  are  specially  directed 
to  special  and  distinct  views  of  the  Gospel.  The  former 
objection  speaks  of  life,  and  it  is  answered  out  of  the  nature 
and  characteristics  of  spiritual  life  and  death ;  the  latter 
objection  speaks  of  subjection,  and  it  is  appropriately 
answered  by  citing  the  characters  and  contrast  of  the  sinful 
and  the  righteous  service.  The  one  asks  (ver.  1),  shall  we 
abide, — or  "  live"  (ver.  2)  in  sin,  that  grace  may  abound  ? 
and  the  answer  is  that  we  are  dead  to  sin,  that  the  old  nature 
is  crucified  (ver.  6),  and  that  therefore  it  is  unnatural,  in  the 
nature  of  things  incompatible,  that  we  should  live  to  it. 
This  death  to  sin  is  declared  to  be  publicly  solemnized 
in  the  expressive  rite  of  Baptism ;  and  in  it,  as  well  as  in 
the  resurrection  that  follows  it,  we  are  declared  to  be  copy- 
ists and  partakers  of  Christ, — "  baptized  into  Him,"  into  his 
death,  his  resurrection,  and  his  eternal  life  (ver.  3 — 11). 
The  consequence  drawn  from  this  (ver.  12 — 14)  is, — that 


132  Dyi^'^g  io  Sin  and  the  Law.  [serm.  IX. 


sin  should  not  '■^have  dominion  over  us,"  that  it  should  not 
be  suffered  any  longer  to  intrude  its  foreign  tyranny  upon 
the  purchased  possession  of  God : — and  this  forms  the  transi- 
tion to  the  topic  of  the  second  objection,  which  turns  upon 
the  cardinal  idea  of  subjection^  and  asks, — "  Shall  we  sin 
because  we  are  not  binder  the  law  but  under  grace  ?"  The 
course  of  animated  appeal  that  replies  to  this  interrogatory 
(ver.  16 — 20)  is  fitted  to  it  with  exact  and  exclusive  pro- 
priety. "We  are  declared  to  be  no  longer  "  the  servants  of 
sin."  but  "the  servants  of  righteousness;"  that  whereas  in 
the  bitter  bondage  of  nature  and  the  law,  men  were  "  free 
from  righteousness"  (ver.  20),  they  are  under  the  dispensa- 
tion of  grace  "free"  (or  rather  freed,) — emancipated, — 
{i-Ktv9t?c>9ivi:ti)  from  sin,  and  formally  articled  to  that  holy 
servitude  of  godliness  and  love,  whose  "  gift  is  eternal  life 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord"  (ver.  23)... Having  thus 
concluded  his  double  course  of  illustrative  exposition,  St 
Paul  now  passes  (ver.  21)  to  a  further  consideration,  which 
results  from  both,  and  manifestly  is  framed  to  allude  to 
both.  He  speaks  of  "the  fruits,"  or  consequences,  of  the 
ways  of  Nature  and  Grace :  and  to  each  he  applies  the 
notions,  before  so  copiously  treated,  of  service  and  of  life. 
Now  the  "  fruit"  of  bondage  is  properly  its  "  wages,"  the 
fruit  of  God's  service  is  "  a  gift."  And  therefore  it  is, 
that,  binding  the  whole  argument  and  all  its  topics, — life 
and  freedom, — death  and  bondage,  and  the  fruits  of  each, 
— into  one  summary,  he  declares, — that  "being  freed  from 
sin  and  servants  to  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness, 
and  the  end  everlasting  life ;  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death^ 
but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life.^'' 

We  now  arrive  at  the  passage  so  much  contested,  the 
analogy  of  the  deceased  husband  and  surviving  wife,  in 
which  so  many  have  found  an  instance  of  what  they  are 
pleased  to  call  St  Paul's  "popular  appeals"  and  "hasty 
comparisons"  and  "resemblances  that  must  not  be  too 
closely  pressed ;" — but  in  which  I  trust  to  show  you  an 


SERM.  IX.]  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


133 


apt  and  perfect  sequel  to  the  whole  course  of  the  preceding 
reasoning. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  Apostle,  having,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  the  close  of  the  last  chapter  united  into  one  mass 
and  interwoven  in  the  texture  of  his  language  the  two 
topics  of  that  chapter, — the  death  to  sin  and  the  new 
obedience  unto  God, — opens  this  with  a  new  and  distinct 
illustration  in  which  he  continues  to  represent  this  great 
revolution  in  colors  yet  more  vivid  and  with  an  outline 
yet  more  precise.  The  passage  in  which  this  is  effected 
runs  thus : — 

(1)  "  Know  ye  not,  brethren,  (for  I  speak  to  them  that 
know  the  law)  how  that  the  law  hath  dominion  over  a 
man  as  long  as  he  liveth?  (2)  For  the  woman  which 
hath  an  husband  is  bound  by  the  law  to  her  husband  as 
long  as  he  liveth ;  but  if  the  husband  be  dead  she  is  loosed 
from  the  law  of  her  husband.  (3)  So  then  if  while  her 
husband  liveth,  she  be  married  to  another  man,  she  shall 
be  called  an  adulteress;  but  if  her  husband  be  dead,  she 
is  free  from  that  law;  so  that  she  is  no  adulteress,  though 
she  be  married  to  another "  man.  (4)  Wherefore,  my 
brethren,  ye  also  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body 
of  Christ;  that  ye  should  be  married  to  another,  even  to 
Him  who  is  raised  from  the  dead,  that  we  should  brino- 
forth  fruit  unto  God." 

The  general  purport  of  this  illustration  is,  I  suppose, 
manifest  enough  ;  it  obviously  describes  a  great  change, — 
a  dissolution  of  old  connections  and  a  formation  of  new 
ones;  the  government  of  the  Law  and  tlie  espousal  to 
Christ  are  manifestly  contrasted;  and  the  readers  of  the 
Epistle  are  pointedly  warned  of  the  duties  that  belong  to 
that  great  and  blessed  engagement. .  .But  when  from  this 
distant  and  rapid  view  wc  approach  to  a  closer  investiga- 
tion, and  (as  is  requisite  in  all  comparisons)  seek  to  appro- 
priate to  their  due  realities  each  person  or  object  in  the 
similitude,  the  case  becomes  more  intricate,  and  this 
VOL.  ir. — 12 


134 


Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


[SEBM.  IX. 


famous  illustration,  if  wc  are  to  trust  some  of  our  ex- 
positors, is  little  better  than  those  meteoric  lights  which 
seen  afar  are  luminous,  but  under  a  closer  gaze  are  found 
to  be  dark  and  rayless. 

The  Apostle,  it  is  urged,  would  compare  the  union  under 
the  Law  and  the  Gospel  to  the  Marriage  Bond.  The  Bond 
is  severed  by  the  death  of  one  of  the  parties.  The  deceased 
Husband  is  the  Law  now  extinct,  the  second  LEusband  is 
Christ,  the  Wife  is  the  Church  of  God  under  the  two  dis- 
pensations,— that  Church  which  at  the  death  of  that  Law 
(which  was  her  former  spouse)  is  released  for  a  new  and 
higher  connection.  But  to  this  is  opposed  the  startling  fact 
that  in  the  application  of  the  allegory  by  him  who  best 
understood  his  own  meaning  (in  the  4th  verse)  it  is  the  Wifc^ 
— the  Church, — who  is  said  to  be  dead, — "  Ye  are  become 
dead  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ ;" — and  in  the  first 
verse, — the  preamble  and  natural  index  to  the  purport  of 
the  whole, — it  is  said  that  "  the  law  hath  dominion  over 
the  person  (for  thus  general  is  the  word  in  the  original, 
■{oi  dvQfilirtov,)  as  long  as  that  person  liveth,"  thus  evidently 
resting  the  wife's  right  to  liberation  upon  her  death,  upon 
her  having  ceased  to  live,  and  being  thus  emancipated 
from  the  power  of  the  law.  Innumerable  have  been  the  ex- 
pedients adopted  to  escape  this  difficulty.  Some  have  held 
that  the  words  which  we  render  "  as  long  as  he  liveth" 
should  be  rendered  "as  long  as  it  (the  law)  liveth,  i.  e.,  is  in 
force," — an  opinion  as  old  as  the  days  of  Origen,  and  advo- 
cated by  Doddridge.  Others  have  said, — to  obviate  the 
apparent  inconsistency  between  the  decease  of  the  Husband 
in  the  allegory  and  of  the  Wife  in  the  application, — that  we 
are  said  to  be  dead  to  the  Law  because  the  Law  is  dead  to 
us,  and  that  St  Paul  adopted  this  circuitous  form  of  phrase 
to  avoid  offending  the  Jewish  converts  who  could  not  bear 
to  hear  it  openly  preached  that  the  Law  of  Moses  was  itself 
no  more.  Such  names  as  Grotius,  Whitby,  and  Hammond, 
have  sanctioned  this  supposition.    After  what  has  been 


SERM.  IX.] 


Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


135 


stated  of  tlie  accuracy  and  precision  of  the  reasoning  of  the 
last  chapter,  you  will  not  readily  believe  that  St  Paul  is 
not  the  best  guide  to  his  own  interpretation  here ;  or_that 
it  is  not  our  safest  plan, — without  altering  the  natural  force 
and  signification  of  words, — altering  the  venerable  land- 
marks of  inspiration,  to  try  if  we  may  not  penetrate  to  an 
internal  harmony  more  perfect,  in  the  record  as  it  lies 
before  us. 

For  this  purpose,  I  must  recall  to  your  remembrance  the 
discussion  that  precedes  the  passage.  St  Paul  has  estab- 
lished the  two  great  characteristics  of  the  New  dispensation, 
— the  death  to  sin  which  heralds  the  life  to  righteousness, 
and  the  emancvpation  from  sin  which  gives  the  Christian 
freedman  to  the  service  of  his  God.  With  both  these 
great  ideas, — prominent  and  governing  ideas, — in  his  view 
he  enters  upon  the  passage  under  consideration.  In  reach- 
ing it,  however,  his  mind  passes  through,  and  takes  the 
tincture  of,  an  important  connecting  notion, — the  notion  (as 
we  have  seen)  of  the  "  fruits," — the  results  in  heart  and 
habits, — of  the  dispensations  of  law  and  grace.  When 
once  his  thoughts  (guided  by  heaven  in  their  progressive 
changes)  had  come  upon  this  great  practical  consideration, 
expressed  in  the  metaphor  I  have  cited,  what  was  more 
natural  or  less  abrupt  than  the  transition  into  the  peculiar 
form  of  allegory  before  us,  in  which  these  "  fruits"  are 
represented  as  the  results  of  a  mystical  marriage.  The 
mere  suitability,  then,  of  the  ideas  might  lead  you  to  con- 
jecture that  this  passage  is  intimately  connected  with  and 
corroborative  of  the  discussion  in  the  preceding  chapter ; 
but  there  is  evidence  more  direct  to  establish  it.  In  the 
fourth  and  fifth  verses,  you  find  the  very  term  of  which  we 
speak  (as  a  connective  between  the  two  trains  of  thought) 
employed  in  its  new  sense.  It  is  there  said  that  we  are 
"to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God"  instead  of  "bringing  forth 
fruit  unto  death;"  and  this  blessed  result  is  declared  to 
follow  upon  the  espousal  in  the  allegory, — upon  our  being 


136 


Dying  io  Sin  and  the  Law.  [serm.  IX. 


"married  to  another,  even  to  him  who  is  raised  from  the 
dead."  This  passage,  then,  confirms,  repeats,  all  that  has 
gone  before;  it  does  not  alter  its  bearings  or  displace  its 
relations.  Like  it, — it  speaks  of  a  soul  that  once  lived  to 
sin  and  lived  to  bondage;  like  it,  of  a  death  which  exalts 
the  same  soul  to  righteousness  and  to  freedom.  How  then 
shall  we  dispose  the  personages  of  the  allegory,  to  harmo- 
nize perfectly  with  itself,  and  with  all  that  precedes  and 
follows  it?  Shall  we  not  say  that  the  Wife  indeed,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  mighty  change,  represents  the  Soul  (whether 
individually  of  each  Christian,  or  collectively  of  the  general 
Church) ;  that  the  deceased  Husband,  whose  claim  and  power 
expires,  symbolizes, — not  the  Law,  (as  commonly  held), 
but  the  Principle  of  Sin,  to  which  the  Law  ministered,  and 
to  which  so  much  of  the  preceding  chapter  describes  the 
regenerate  soul  as  "dead" — dead  to  sin  because  sin  is  dead. 
And  when  St  Paul  describes  the  Woman  as  "  loosed  from 
the  law  of  the  husband"  "free  from  that  law"  and  "answer- 
ably  dead  io  the  law,^^  shall  we  not  plainly  perceive  that 
"the  Law"  in  the  parable  is  not  represented  by  the  dead 
husband  but  by  "  the  law  of  the  husband,"  the  matrimonial 
obligation,  which  kept  the  soul  in  bondage  as  long  as  sin 
was  alive,  but  which  ceases  for  ever  when  sin, — the  soul's 
gloomy  consort  and  tyrant, — has  expired?  Under  this 
interpretation,  all  is  complete  and  consistent.  The  Law, — 
by  the  universal  principle  of  law, — has  dominion  over  the 
woman  as  it  has  over  all,  as  long  as  life  lasts.  But  with 
death  the  obligation  terminates;  over  her  that  is  mystically 
dead  the  condemning  Law  loses  its  stern  control.  How 
then  is  this  death  produced  ?  The  second  and  third  verses 
purposely  tell  us ;  with  a  view  to  preparing  the  way  for 
the  new  connection  that  is  to  follow  that  mysterious  death. 
It  is  itself  a  result  or  necessary  accompaniment  of  the 
death  of  the  husband ;  here  is  the  momentous  peculiarity 
of  this  case;  the  husband  is  the  principle  of  sin,  and  the 
death  of  sin  in  the  soul  is  the  death  of  the  soul  unto  sin. 


SERM.  IX.]  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Laiv.  137 

In  this  way,  conformably  to  the  Apostle's  assumption  in. 
the  first  verse,  the  power  of  the  Law, — that  is  in  the  alle- 
gory, the  old  matrimonial  bond, — expires;  in  point  of  fact 
by  the  simultaneous  death  of  both  the  parties,  but  mainly 
(for  this  is  the  chief  scope  of  the  whole)  by  the  death  of 
tbe  "Wife,  as  he  had  said  above  (so  exquisitely  harmonious 
is  the  management  of  the  figure  all  through) — "the  one 
that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin."  Thus  is  she  freed  from  the 
obligation  of  her  miserable  bondage,  she  is  enfranchised  by 
him  who  has  slain  her  accursed  companion  through  His 
victorious  sacrifice,  she  is  "  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body  of 
Christ."  The  death  of  Sin  and  unto  Sin  liberates  from  the 
Law,  and  opens  the  way  for  the  new  and  celestial  Union. 
The  Law  bound  the  wretched  soul  in  servitude  to  Sin,  for 
"  the  strength  of  Sin  is  the  Law" — it  gave  sin  its  sinfulness 
and  gave  no  power  to  escape  it ;  nor  could  this  terrible 
espousal  to  Evil  be  broken  in  the  nature  of  things  and 
God's  providential  dispensation,  except  by  that  decease  of 
Sin,  which  left  the  Soul  correspondingly  "dead  to  sin," 
"dead,  then,  to  the  law"  (which  can  only  govern  the  living) 
and  free  to  form  the  new  and  sacred  union.  The  main 
subject  of  the  allegory,  then,  is  not  the  death  of  the  law, 
but  the  death  of  the  Soul  to  Sin  and  the  law :  it  is  this 
■which  assimilates  it  to  the  reasoning  it  follows,  and  incor- 
porates it  in  the  mass  and  current  of  the  Apostle's  discourse. 
How  strongly  the  interpretation  which  considers  the  de- 
ceased Husband  to  be  the  conquered  principle  of  sin,  is 
confirmed  by  the  form  of  expression  in  the  fifth  verse,  I 
need  not  now  remark.  But  it  is  worth  while  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  sixth  verse,  as  a  proof  that  the  two  great 
subjects  of  which  I  spoke  at  first  were  never  out  of  the 
Apostle's  calculation,  through  all  this  comparison,  and 
hence  as  a  proof  how  closely  it  is  connected  with  the  entire. 
Summing  up  the  past  discussion  before  he  proceeds  to  a 
new  one,  he  recalls  again  the  two  main  characteristics  of 
the  gift  of  God  which  he  had  bound  together  in  the  illus- 

12* 


138 


Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


[SERM.  IX. 


tration, — tlie  death  to  Sin,  and  the  new  service  to  Christ, 
"  We  are  delivered  from  the  law,  that, — namely, — sin, — 
being  dead  (or,  "  we  being  dead  to  that")  wherein  we  were 
held;  that  we  should  serve  in  newness  of  spirit,  and  not  in 
the  oldness  of  the  letter."  Surely  this,  a  professed  inference 
from  the  passage  we  have  discussed,  evidences  that  that 
passage  itself  must  contain  these  elements;  must  embody  in 
one  forcible  example  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
death  to  Sin  as  the  great  initial  step  in  the  Christian  course, 
and  the  fruits  of  obedience  to  God  as  the  manifestation  of 
the  spiritual  resurrection. 

But  after  all, — it  may  be  asked, — whether  it  must  not  be 
admitted  that  St  Paul's  illustration  would  have  been  clearer 
and  simpler,  if  he  had  symbolized  the  expired  Law  by  the 
expired  Husband,  and  regarded  the  Soul  not  as  itself  dead, 
but  as  living  and  liberated  by  the  death  of  its  party  in  the 
Nuptial  Contract  ?  It  is  at  all  times  exceedingly  danger- 
ous to  imagine  improvements  ujDon  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  but 
in  this  case  I  have  no  hesitation  in  replying  that  such  an 
alteration  would  dilute  and  enfeeble  the  strength  of  the 
whole  parallel.  St  Paul  (it  is  one  of  the  loftiest  characters 
of  genuine  inspiration)  abounds  in  expressions  and  argu- 
ments that  seem  forced  and  overwrought  until  inward 
experience  has  raised  us  to  the  level  of  his  language.  And 
as  I  do  believe  that  the  great  power  of  this  remarkable 
passage  eminently  consists  in  its  representing  the  Soul  of 
man  as  resigning  the  very  principle  of  the  earthly  life  and 
its  condemning  law  before  it  can  combine  with  Christ,  in  its 
thus  bringing  up  a  dead  Bride  to  this  solemn  spousal  to 
receive  from  her  beloved  a  new  life  of  grace  as  her  nuptial 
dower,  therefore  do  I  feel, — and  I  know  that  I  do  but  too 
feebly  feel, — that  to  lower  this  relation  of  the  parties  would 
be  to  weaken  the  true  and  thrilling  purport  of  the  original. 
In  the  sixth  chapter  he  had  spoken  of  death  to  sin  ;  he  now 
presupposes  that  death  realized,  and  he  shows  that  death 
io  the  Iniv  is  its  necessary  accompaniment, — for  that  the  law 


SERM.  IX.]  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law.  139 


hatli  no  control  over  the  dead,  that  they  are  beyond  its 
powers  of  cold  command  and  inflexible  vengeance.  And 
if  you  would  trace  the  force  of  this  connection  or  (in  a 
manner)  this  practical  identification  of  Sin  and  the  Law  so 
conspicuous  in  all  the  theology  of  St  Paul ;  if  you  would 
see  how  he  clears  the  law  of  sinfulness,  yet  shows  that  to 
us  it  must  be  "  the  law  of  sin  and  death," — you  will  find  it 
exactly  v/here  it  is  demanded  by  the  symmetry  of  the 
whole  discussion,  in  the  reasoning  that  follows  the  passage 
before  us  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  Into  this  I  cannot 
now  undertake  to  conduct  you ;  indeed  I  fear  you  will 
think  that  I  have  too  long  detained  you  among  these  more 
minute  and  elaborate  inquiries,  which  are  seldom  popular 
because  they  demand  something  from  the  listeners  as  well 
as  the  preacher.  Let  us  then,  before  we  part,  rise  for  a 
while  from  discussing  meanings  to  feeling  them ! 

"Ye  are  dead  to  the  law"  and  "by  the  body  of  Christ," 
a  phrase  which  imports  Christ's  incarnate  nature  in  general, 
but  more  eminently  that  nature  as  sacrificed, — as  in  that  of 
Col.  i.  22,  "  He  hath  reconciled  you  in  the  body  of  his  flesh 
through  death,^\ — or  in  the  very  perfect  parallel  of  St  Peter 
(ii.  24),  "  He  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body, — that  we  being 
dead  to  sins  should  live  unto  righteousness,"  which  gives 
us  the  same  ideas  in  the  same  connection.  "  You  are  dead 
unto  the  Law" — unto  the  Law  considered  apart  and  unac- 
companied, as  the  organ  of  command  and  punishment,— 
that  ordered  and  avenged.  *'  You  are  dead"  to  that  which 
exhibited  your  God  as  a  God  only  of  terror  and  retribu- 
tion, who  gave  you  "statutes  that  were  not  good,  and  judg- 
ments whereby  you  should  not  live."  (Ezek.  xx.  25.) 
You  are  dead  to  the  law  as  a  sole  covenant  of  life,  for  it  is 
"the  ministration  of  death ;"  you  are  dead  to  it  as  Si, princi- 
ple of  life,  for  "  the  letter  killeth"  and  "  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing."  To  this  Law  you  are  "  dead"  in  being  dead  to 
Sin,  you  stand  in  the  same  relationship  to  it  as  those  whom 
men  call  dead,  but  who  indeed  are  "alive  unto  God," — 


140 


Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


[SERM.  IX. 


who,  "  through  the  grave,  and  gate  of  death,"  have  passed 
into  another  world  and  a  higher  form  of  existence.  The 
Law, — solitary  and  terrible, — was  as  such  an  element  in 
the  old  world  of  sin  and  weakness ;  it  was  the  curse  sus- 
pended over  the  head  that  could  not  stir  to  escape  it.  All 
perfect  indeed,  for  it  was  a  copy  of  the  mind  of  God ;  but 
dreadful  to  behold,  for  it  was  above  the  strength  of  man. 
It  was  the  presence  of  Jehovah  in  a  world  unworthy  of 
him ;  and  it  consumed  where  it  shone.  To  this  frowning 
and  fearful  Avenger  you  are  dead,  "  the  body  of  Christ" 
has  wrought  this  glorious  decease,  the  lightnings  of  heaven 
have  fallen  on  Calvary  and  expired  there,  and  you  can  now 
triumph  by  death  as  He  has  done ! 

"  Ye  are  dead."  This  spiritual  death  must  surely  be  in 
some  profound  sense, — so  often  and  so  earnestly  is  the 
phrase  reiterated, — the  mystical  image  of  that  death  from 
which  it  derives  its  name.  Whither  does  death  conduct 
us  ?  "  To-day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise,"  said  the 
Lord  of  life  to  the  dying  penitent.  He  himself  "  preached 
to  spirits  in  confinement," — preserved  in  the  secret  citadel 
of  God : — a  world  where  as  He  declared,  "  all  live  unto 
Him,"  and  whose  happier  region  perhaps  is  typified  in  that 
"bosom  of  Abraham"  which  the  Jews  employed  to  express 
it,  and  which  our  Lord  has  consecrated  by  his  adoption. 
His  servant  "  absent  from  the  body"  expected  to  be 
"  present  with  the  Lord,"  desired  "  to  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,  which  was  far  better," — to  "die  unto  the  Lord,"  and 
"  whether  he  waked  or  slept,  to  live  together  with  him." 
The  triumphant  fulness  of  heavenly  glory  seems  to  demand 
the  body  no  less  than  the  spirit;  and  may  we  not  fairly 
deem,  with  many  of  our  sagest  and  holiest  divines,  that 
there  is  beyond  this  scene,  in  some  lone  region  of  the 
illimitable  universe,  a  home  for  the  spirit  unbodied,  or 
clad  it  may  be  with  some  finer  and  invisible  materialism, 
whera  in  the  calm  expectation  of  consummate  bliss  it 
learns  the  art  of  higher  happiness,  and  trains  its  faculties 


SERM.  IX.]  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


141 


for  coming  glory  ?  Is  there  not  a  world  of  spirits, — the 
antechamber  of  Heaven, — where  the  eye,  long  accustomed 
to  the  gross  darkness  of  the  flesh,  is  gradually  couched 
for  the  luminous  Presence  of  the  Ineffable  One,  a  gentle 
twilight  between  the  Night  of  this  life  and  the  Morning 
of  immortality  ?  Thither,  doubtless,  often  descends  from 
the  throne  of  his  glory, — there,  perhaps,  more  constantly 
dwells  by  some  unimaginable  Shechinah, — the  man  Christ 
Jesus  with  whom  "  our  life  is  hid  ;"  and  who,  by  promise 
and  earnest  of  the  fulness  to  come,  teaches  his  expectant 
people  that  they  have,  indeed,  "  a  building  of  God  eternal 
in  the  heavens."  And  as  in  all  our  physical  changes, 
spiritual  changes  more  intimate  and  essential  seemed 
pictured,  I  cannot  but  think  that  as  our  death  repre- 
sents the  spiritual  death  that  opens  the  Christian's  course, 
so  this  intervening  state  of  holy  anticipation  seems  emi- 
nently to  represent  the  peculiar  blessedness  that  follows 
that  "death  to  sin"  and  "to  the  law."  Few  are  our 
intimations  of  the  condition  of  the  Saints  departed,  but 
these  few  breathe  of  profound  repose,  tranquillity  whose 
stillness  nothing  further  can  disturb.  They  are  "asleep 
in  Jesus."  The  bodies  that  arose  at  the  crucifixion  were 
"the  bodies  of  the  sleeping  saints."  They  are  blessed, 
"  for  they  rest  from  their  labors."  "  We  now  groan, 
waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  the 
body,"  but  when  the  first  great  step  towards  it  shall  have 
assured  all  the  rest,  we  can  aftbrd  in  joyful  peace  to  "  wait." 
And  if  such  a  state  be  real,  (and  some  such  state  can 
scarcely  be  denied)  peaceful,  though  till  the  final  resur- 
rection incomplete,  full  of  quiet  hope  and  calm  confidence 
that  blessings  possessed  are  the  heralds  of  blessings  far 
greater  to  come, — if  death  does  release  the  children  of  God 
into  this,  or  some  such, — happy  territory, — how,  think 
you,  do  its  tranquil  people  look  back  upon  the  life  of  this 
world? — that  restless  and  unhapjty  tunuilt  in  which  they 
once  were  struggling?    They  may  remember  it, — fiiintly 


142 


Dying  to  Sin  and  (he  Law. 


[SERM.  IX. 


recall  it  as  some  confused  and  painful  dream ;  but  tlie 
motives,  and  principles,  and  practices  of  that  shadowy 
state  can  have  no  further  relation  to  them,  and  their 
thoughts  wander  no  longer  among  its  sorrows  and  its  guilt. 
They  arc  "dead"  to  that  world,  "dead"  to  its  sin,  "dead" 
to  its  avenging  law.  It  cannot  cast  its  shadow  across  the 
grave ;  it  cannot  prolong  one  pang  of  bitterness,  one  touch 
of  temptation.  Its  waves  are  broken  beneath  the  walls  of 
that  sheltered  Paradise.  These  are  the  franchised  of  Christ 
and  of  death ;  dust  has  returned  to  dust  that  the  spirit 
might  return  unto  God ;  they  have  died  into  His  eternal 
life  I  Brethren!  such  is  tbe  story  of  the  dying  saint,  such 
his  oblivion  of  the  past, — his  glory  ever  growing  and 
gathering  for  the  future !  Such  is  his  entrance  into  a  new 
world, — serene  and  lofty  as  the  heavens  spread  above  the 
storms,  changeless  and  eternal  as  the  heart  of  God.  This 
is  the  story  of  the  dying  saint;  such  dying  saints  must 
you  even  now  be,  if  you  would  live  even  now  with  Jesus. 
Such  a  death  to  a  world  of  embodied  wickedness, — its 
principles,  its  habits,  and  its  hopes :  such  death  to  a  law  of 
terrors,  that  you  may  rise  to  a  law  of  love ;  such  dissolution 
of  the  old  tie, — accursed  not  in  itself  but  its  object, — that 
it  may  be  renewed  in  a  tie  of  everlasting  sanctity ;  such  an 
end, — final  and  irrevocable, — to  that  deadly  wedlock  with 
the  Principle  of  Evil,  that  the  marriage-feast  may  be  held 
which  all  heaven  shall  sanction,  and  the  "  King's  son" 
receive  his  bride!  Widowed  she  comes,  but  not  joyless; 
for  she  remembers  that  her  widowhood  is  her  glory ! 
Some  faint  remembrances  of  that  dark  espousal  may 
linger;  she  may  still  hesitate  to  exchange  the  weeds  of  her 
mourning  for  her  bridal  robes ;  we  will  not  speak  harshly 
of  the  weakness,  for  we  know  it  must  pass  away.  Are 
these  phrases  strange?  Why  should  they  not  be,  when 
they  speak  of  changes  vast,  and  startling,  and  momentous  ? 
what  ordinary  language  shall  fitly  characterize  these  hidden 
miracles  of  the  soul?    They  are  the  phrases  of  God's 


SEBM.  IX.]  Dying  to  Sin  and  the  Law. 


143 


Spirit,  and  not  mine ;  "  take  heed  how  ye  hear"  them ! 
But  you  know  they  are  not  strange,  who  have  ever  beheld 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  "  glory 
which  is  mercy,  forgiveness,  and  immeasurable  love ;  and 
who,  dying, — yea,  long  since  dead, — to  the  law  of  fear,  and 
coldness,  and  distance,  and  repulsiveness,  have,  even  in  the 
midst  of  this  daily  world  of  aim  without  object  and  labor 
without  profit,  found  within  you  a  loving  power  to  live  in 
his  spiritual,  and  prepare  for  his  immediate.  Presence.  To 
you  may  the  sternness  of  command  be  more  and  more  lost 
in  the  suggestions  of  grace ;  and  the  Law,  substantially 
unchanged,  brighten  into  the  spontaneous  dictates  of  grati- 
tude and  love !  Dead  to  the  Law  as  the  gloomy  legislation 
of  death,  may  you  live  to  it  as  the  "  Law  of  the  Spirit  of 
Life,"  knowing  it  in  that  nobler  shape  in  which  it  is  but 
the  type  and  form  by  which  love  joyfully  moulds  itself, 
the  standard  to  which  the  spiritual  affections  delight  to 
conform,  whose  only  compulsion  is  "the  love  of  Christ 
constraining^^  them !  May  you  be  enabled  to  make  the  Law 
your  model,  not  as  the  servile  task  of  your  bondage,  but 
as  the  Will  and  very  Image  of  Him  whom  you  adore, 
and  in  adoring  imitate  (for  imitation  is  the  perfection  of 
worship),  being,  "as  obedient  children,''^ — they  are  his  own 
words,  or  who  would  dare  to  utter  them  ? — "  holy  as  He  is 
holy,"  "  perfect  as  He  is  perfect,"  "  pure  05  He  is  pure," 
"doing  righteousness  as  He  is  righteous,"  "walking  in  the 
light  as  He  is  in  the  light," — inasmuch  as  (to  blend  all  in 
one  word, — our  hopes,  our  happiness,  our  life,)  "as  He  is, 
so  are  we  in  the  icorldP^ 


SERMON  X. 


THE  RESTORER  OF  MANKIND. 

I  will  restore  health  unto  thee,  and  I  will  heal  thee  of  thy  wounds,  saith  the 
Lord. — Jeremiah  xxx.  17. 

The  words  that  were  spoken  by  Jeremiah  to  console  the 
hearts  of  Israel,  had  a  deeper  significancy  for  the  Israel  of 
all  ages.  The  ministers  of  Christ  stand  forth  with  a  heaven- 
sent commission  to  restore ;  it  is  the  leading  character  of 
all  their  teaching.  It  is  even  felt  to  be  so  by  those  who 
7-eject  it.  And  I  know  no  more  melancholy  contemplation 
than  is  aftbrded  by  the  sight  of  the  numbers,  who,  feeling 
the  necessity,  and  even  believing  the  reality,  of  this  restor- 
ing efficacy,  support  with  all  their  hearts  and  souls  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Christian  Churches,  that  are  formed  to  minister 
to  its  operations ;  acknowledge  in  all  'their  words,  and  in 
many  of  their  actions,  the  beauty  and  perfectness  of  our 
doctrine,  as  distinguished  from  all  other  kinds  of  moral  in- 
struction ;  contend  for  it  earnestly  in  conversation  public 
and  private  ;  declare  unreservedly  for  Church-teaching,  in 
preference  to  all  other  teaching;  —  and  yet — as  if  no 
Churches  existed, — as  if  no  real  change  had  come  upon  the 
spirit  of  things  by  the  preaching  of  Olivet  and  the  death  of 
Calvary, — live  and  move,  devoted  Christians  —  without 
Christianity ! 

Now,  brethren !  what  I  would  propose,  on  this  occasion, 
to  your  consideration,  is  this.    How  deep  are  the  wants 


SERM.  X.] 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


145 


which  our  faith  supplies,  and  how  wide  is  the  feeling  of  the 
beauty  and  power  of  the  remedy : — both  (in  combination)  sup- 
porting the  permanence  and  (so  to  speak)  the  pojmlariti/  of 
that  Faith, — both,  without  spiritual  assistances  and  deep 
earnestness  of  effort,  incapable  of  advancing  us  one  step  in 
realizing  its  blessings.  What  the  lessons  from  such  a  con- 
sideration of  this  world's  outward  sensibility  and  inward 
deadness  to  Christianity  ouyht  to  be, — it  would  be  unneces- 
sary to  declare.  You  can  surely  deduce  them  for  your- 
selves. May  God  enable  you  to  do  so,  and  you  will  have 
Utile  cause  to  regret  the  time  I  may  have  to  detain  you 
here !  You  have  doubtless  then,  brethren !  often  meditated, 
ivhat  is  the  definite  business  of  a  Christian  teacher.  You 
have  reflected  in  what  especial  regard  it  is,  that  he  is  ex- 
pected to  differ  from  every  other  real  or  pretended  instruc- 
tor. Reflections  of  this  kind  have  been  forced  upon  you 
by  the  most  obvious  outward  appearances  of  the  world ^vc 
live  in.  As  the  citizens  of  a  Christian  country,  it  is  impos- 
sible but  you  must  have  often  defined  to  yourselves  tvhat 
that  peculiarity  is — what  its  nature,  and  what  its  value — 
which  justifies  the  establishment  of  a  legalized  ministry, 
and  thus  constitutes  a  distinct  class  in  society,  that  in  its 
most  important  and  constant  character — that  of  preaching 
and  teaching — was  utterly  unknown  to  ancient  times; 
which  constantly  calls  for  new  churches  and  new  officiators; 
which  more  or  less  tinges  the  conversation  of  almost  every 
circle  of  friends;  which  more  or  less  mingles  itself  witli 
political  calculations  of  every  description  ;  which  occupies 
half  the  learning  and  research  of  half  the  countries  of  the 
world;  which,  in  short,  by  all  kinds  of  publicity  and  pro- 
minence, challenges  universal  attention.  You  conclude  that 
it  must  be  something  of  corresponding,  that  is  of  enormous, 
importance,  that  explains  the  existence  or  necessity  of  in- 
stitutions so  deeply  rooted  in  society,  and  branching  so 
widely  through  and  over  every  portion  of  it.  You  feel 
that  it  can  be  no  trifling  distinction  that  has  created  clergies 
VOL.  II.— 13 


146 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


[SERM.  X. 


and  cburclies ;  that  has  asserted  to  itself  an  exclusive  right 
to  one  order  of  men,  and  a  pervading  influence  over  every 
other  order ;  that  demands  in  its  outward  observances  a 
seventh  part  (at  least)  of  your  lives,  in  its  inward  influences 
does  not  hesitate  to  demand  the  whole! 

Nor  does  it  satisfy  such  reflections — to  dismiss  the  entire 
matter  with  the  neglis^ent  conclusion, — that  all  this  machi- 
nery  and  all  its  past  and  present  operations,  form  but  one 
among  the  many  follies  of  mankind;  that  the  public  and 
national  ordinances  of  one  remarkable  religion  which  (cir- 
cumstantially diflerent  it  may  be,  but,  in  the  source  they 
claim  and  refer  to,  substantially  the  same)  now  exist  all 
over  the  civilized  earth, — are  but  fragments  of  unenlight- 
ened antiquity,  clouds  of  the  night  that  still  are  suffered  to 
hang  upon  the  morning,  harmless  customs  that  will  arise 
in  countries,  one  knows  not  why  or  wherefore.  On  the 
contrary, — you  cannot  be  ignorant,  that  no  such  dormant 
or  lethargic  existence  is  permitted  to  this  marvellous  visi- 
tor ;  you  cannot  but  know  that  it  is  the  perpetual  object  of 
jealousy  and  conflict — and  that  directly  in  proportion  as  it 
asserts  its  distinctive  character ;  that  the  nations  are  con- 
tinually invited,  by  men  not  at  all  deficient  in  eloquence, 
ability,  sagacity  or  influence,  to  expel  its  very  name  from 
their  social  system ;  that  its  genuine  professors  are  seldom 
safe  from  a  persecution  more  or  less  virulent,  that  (what- 
ever may  be  said  of  the  slumber  of  the  middle  centuries,) 
these  at  least  are  times  in  which  the  antiquity  of  a  custom 
is  not  likely  to  fully  satisfy  men  for  its  continuance; — and 
that  in  despite  of  all  this  (surely  the  very  opposite  of  an 
inactive  or  permissive  condition)  it  still,  by  some  inexplica- 
ble vitality,  lives  undestroyed  in  the  midst  of  destruction, 
— it  recommends  itself  by  some  internal  necessity  to  the 
hearts  of  nations, — people  will  not  do  without  it, — and  though 
in  the  drunkenness  of  a  national  frenzy  they  may  insult,  and 
revile,  and  trample  it,  they  are  soon  found  to  return  cower- 
ing beneath  its  feet  and  offering  it  up  an  adoration — not 


SERM.  X.]  The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


147 


always  the  purest,  indeed — but  still  an  adoration — and  still 
sincere!  We  must  look  further  then,  if  we  would  find  the 
charm  that  attaches  even  the  worldly  to  some  form  of  our 
faith. 

Nor  again  will  it  solve  the  problem,  to  reply  (in  a  more 
reverent  but  still  a  mistaken  spirit) — that  a  corps  of  moral 
instructors  is  felt  by  statesmen  to  be  expedient,  and  by 
good  men  to  be  obligatory.  There  is  some  truth  in  this; 
but  it  is  far  indeed  from  the  whole  truth.  The  pertinacious 
vitality  of  Christianity  (I  speak,  you  will  understand,  only 
of  its  secondary  and  earthly  causes)  depends  neither  on 
statesmen  nor  on  good  men.  The  statesman  is  too.  careless 
and  too  interested  to  labor  continuously  to  preserve  it ;  the 
good  men  are  too  weak  and  too  few.  No ; — Christian  esta- 
blishments, the  general  organization  of  Christian  services 
in  countries,  are  built  upon  a  broader  basis  than  occasional 
policy  or  even  occasional  virtue ;  Christianity  can  only  be 
universally  recognized,  because  it  speaks  to  universal 
humanity.  We  may  curse  it  in  our  wickedness,  and  flout 
it  in  our  folly;  but  we  cannot  wholly  tear  it  from  our 
hearts.  It  is  based  on  too  firm  a  foundation  of  knowledge 
of  man's  wants  and  weakness ;  the  chord  it  touches  is  too 
genuine ;  the  aspect  it  displays  is  too  exquisitely  adapted 
to  console  our  miseries ;  it  speaks  too  direct  a  language  to 
our  common  unhappiness,  to  be  ever  wholly  and  irretriev- 
ably rejected  by  the  general  people.  All  history  confirms 
the  fact.  Nations  have  run  through  the  whole  cycle  of 
caprices.  They  have  chased  and  abandoned  a  thousand 
cherished  pursuits.  But  I  know  not  of  one  that  ever  per- 
manently rejected,  after  enjoying  it,  the  blessing  of  a  Chris- 
tian worship.  Ambition  may  forget  heavenly  in  the  pur- 
suit of  earthly  greatness,  rank  may  feel  too  fortified  in 
position,  and  wealth  too  strong  in  gold,  to  feel  the  constant 
necessity  of  the  Great  Physician ;  but  as  of  old  "the  com- 
mon people"  will  still  "hear  Ilirn  gladly."  And  then, — as 
to  moral  education, — if  that  were  indeed  all  that  was  required, 


148 


The  Restorer  of  ManJcmd.  [SERM.  X. 


have  we  not  our  men  of  fancy,  and  our  men  of  tliouglit? 
If  a  corps  of  ordained  philosophers  would  suit  the  wants 
of  an  unhappy  world,  the  numbers  ambitious  of  distinction 
in  the  pursuits  of  mind,  would  always  be  sufficient  to  sup- 
ply the  demand.  But  the  world,  in  all  its  corruption, 
nevertheless  feels  and  knows  that  such  guides  would  leave 
its  wants  ungratified.  They  may  expound  the  malady,  but 
they  can  poorly  tell  the  cure.  They  can  allay  themselves 
with  every  folly  as  well  as  with  every  virtue  ;  and  whatever 
influence  they  may  have  over  our  hours  of  calm,  they  are 
lost  in  the  tempest  of  the  passions,  unheard  or  despised 
when  "deep  is  calling  to  deep,"  when  the  flood-gates  are 
burst,  and  the  winds  are  up ! 

What  then  is  that  which  these  teachers  cannot  bring, 
and  which  that  higher  and  more  hallowed  order  of  in- 
structors professes  to  bring?  What  is  that  which  in  spite 
of  corruption  and  frailty,  in  spite  of  evil  speakers  that  ag- 
gravate the  corruption,  and  evil-doers  that  exemplify  and 
disseminate  it, — what  is  that  which  even  in  its  very  per- 
versions has  a  power  not  wholly  perished,  and  in  its 
severest  censures  a  secret  and  impressive  commendation  to 
the  very  hearts  that  practically  reject  it, — what  is  that 
which  has  revolutionized  the  domination  of  selfishness  in 
the  world,  till  in  times  of  trouble  and  change  we  hear  the 
people  cry  aloud  that  they  will  stand  by  their  teachers  as 
long  as  they  stand  by  their  teaching,  and  that  they  will 
never  consent  to  exchange  them  for  the  frigid  apostles  of 
a  pretended  rationalism  ?  Brethren  1  the  answer  to  the 
question  is  supplied  in  the  assertion  of  the  doctrine  taught 
— Christ  has  the  power,  because,  even  in  its  lowest  form, 
it  preaches  hope  and  restoration  to  man.  Because  even 
the  most  negligent  feel  that  it  speaks  the  words  of  the 
text — "  I  will  restore  health  unto  thee,  and  I  will  heal  thee 
of  thy  wounds." 

But  if  this  great  peculiarity  of  our  teaching,  which  thus 
separates  the  ministry  of  the  Church  from  all  other  incor- 


SEKM.  X.]  The  Restorer  of  Mankind.  149 

porations  of  instructors,  do  possess  this  power  over  even 
unconverted  souls, — if  Christianity  has  this  hold  over  the 
affections,  even  when  they  are  in  neglect  and  uncultivation, 
— is  it  not  pitiable  that  it  should  have  no  further  influence 
over  the  hearts  of  men?  is  it  not  deplorable  that  they  who 
so  warmly  and  earnestly  assert  the  claims  of  a  national 
Christianity,  should  live  without  its  internal  spirit  ?  Is  it 
not  to  be  lamented  that  the  Christ  who, — by  universal  con- 
sent,— nay,  at  the  universal  demand^ — is  preached  in  our 
pulpits,  should  be  so  little  the  Christ  that  is  prayed  to  from 
our  hearts  ?  Is  it  not  melancholy  that  where  all  nature 
and  all  experience  thus  testify  in  favor  of  our  doctrine 
and  of  the  great  subject  of  our  doctrine,  the  crucified  Re- 
deemer,— we  should  not  carry  out  our  honest  prepossessions, 
and  learn  more  closely  to  reflect  that  those  very  tendencies 
only  prove  how  many  are  the  principles  of  our  nature  to 
which  it  is  formed  profoundly  to  appeal  ?  Assuredly  the 
Masterpiece  of  the  wisdom  of  that  God  who  constructed 
the  human  heart,  will  not  be  found  wanting  in  perfect  and 
beautiful  applicability  to  its  weaknesses  and  failings.  He 
who  formed  the  heart  capable  of  temptation,  has  provided 
the  remedy  for  its  foreseen  fall ;  and  we  may  be  confident 
that  the  structure  of  the  mind  itself  will  not  be  more 
wonderously  wise  than  that  of  the  remedy  for  its  lapse...  7i^, 
on  the  sixth  day  of  Creation,  God  solemnly  called  upon  the 
persons  of  the  Trinity  to  unite  in  the  formation  of  Man, — 
saying,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image," — in  due  time 
also  lie  called  upon  the  same  Trinity  to  unite  in  the  work 
of  his  restoration, — the  Father  accepting  the  Sacrifice,  the 
Son  achieving  it,  and  the  Spirit  for  ever  sanctifying  the 
redeemed.  Nor  was  the  former  work  more  glorious  than 
the  latter;  indeed  if  we  did  not  know  that  in  the  Eternal 
Mind  those  things  which  we  call  means  are  themselves 
ends,  and  that  our  subordinations  and  dependences  can 
seldom  be  relied  on  as  those  of  an  infinite  God, — we  might 
almost  conclude  that  the  very  creation  of  man  was  in  the 

V6* 


150 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind.  [sebm.  X. 


divine  purposes  only  a  work  preparatory  and  subservient 
to  the  mightier  work  of  his  restoration.  However  we  may 
stimulate  our  fancies  with  the  glories  of  God's  outer  world, 
if  we  would  indeed  enjoy  "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God,"  we  must  seek  it  where  the  apostle  found 
it,  "in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  J'' 

What,  then,  brethren,  is  it  to  preach  restoration  to  man 
by  "Christ  crucified?"  Consider  first  what  it  is  to  preach 
Christ  crucified  ?  and  you  will  perceive.  It  is  to  preach 
him  in  his  sacrifice  as  the  sole  atonement  of  sinners,  and  iu 
his  obedience  as  their  great  example.  It  is  to  write  his 
name  upon  the  front  of  all  teaching,  to  found  all  exhortation 
upon  the  principles  of  his  truth.  It  is  to  instruct  the  world 
to  look  upon  Him  whom  their  sins  have  pierced,  and  by 
habituating  the  eye  to  seeing  Him  upon  Calvary,  to  pre- 
pare its  weakness  for  seeing  Him  in  glory !  It  is,  in  short, 
to  faithfully  deliver  the  message  of  God ;  for  the  whole 
scheme  of  religious  truth,  all  that  we  are  and  hope  to  be, 
our  beliefs,  our  confidences,  and  our  love, — all  spring  from, 
and  return  to,  that  momentous  hour  in  which  Christ  became 
"Christ  crucified,"  that  hour  in  which  exalted  between 
heaven  and  earth  as  it  became  the  Mediator  of  two  worlds, 
He  intervened  alike  on  the  part  of  God  and  of  man,  and 
first  looking  up  to  his  Father  with  a  prayer  of  pardon,  and 
then  "bowing  his  head"  to  the  sin-laden  earth,  reconciled 
hoth  for  ever ! 

Let  us  then  see  wliat  it  is  which  fortifies  Christianity 
among  a  people's  hearts,  and  yet  leaves  it  so  sadly  unin- 
fluential  upon  their  lives ;  what  it  is  which  approves,  and 
yet  rejects,  this  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified ;  what  that 
strange  character  may  be  which  assails  the  affections  with- 
out binding  the  practice,  which  makes  mankind  unable  to 
live  wholly  without  Christ  or  wholly  with  him,  and  renders 
(under  Providence)  the  external  church  imperishable,  even 
while  the  internal  and  spiritual  church  is  in  trouble  and 
adversity, — even  when  the  mystical  Woman  of  the  Apoca- 


SEKM.  X.]  The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


151 


lypse  has  to  fly  "  into  the  wilderness,  where  she  hath"  (glory 
to  divine  mercy !)  "  a  place  prepared  of  God,  that  they 
should  feed  her  there."  (Rev.  xii.  6.)  Brethren,  the  reason 
is, — that  the  doctrine  of  the  Redeemer  appeals  to  the  uni- 
versal wants  and  anxieties  of  man  with  a  supernatural 
wisdom  and  power  of  application;  and  that  hence,  even 
while  Christ  is  rejected,  he  is  recognized, — even  when  the 
express  prayers  and  regular  offices  of  a  Believer  are  for- 
gotten or  unknown,  yet  the  want,  the  craving  desire  for 
truth  is  felt,  and,  as  the  Psalmist  phrases  it,  "  the  heart  and 
fiesh  cry  out  for  the  living  God." 

Look  then  to  the  doctrine  of  a  crucified  Redeemer  (the 
seminal  doctrine  of  Christianity)  in  its  remedial  character ; 
and  may  God  teach  you,  as  you  feel  the  want,  to  apply  the 
remedy.  I  here  appeal  to  your  own  experience,  and  to  it 
alone.  I  am  not  to  tell  you  now  for  the  first  time  what 
are  the  lessons  directly  derivable  from  this  central  tenet  of 
the  Gospel.  I  am  not  (after  eighteen  hundred  years  of  its 
preaching)  to  undertake  to  invest  them  with  novelty.  I 
cannot  say  with  the  Prophet — "  New  things  do  I  declare ;" 
but  they,  brethren,  who  have  obtained  the  "  New  Spirit," 
are  able  to  feel  that  these  things  are  never  old.  They  can 
say  with  Jeremiah,  "  The  Lord's  mercies  are  new  every 
morning;"  and  in  a  subject  of  inexhaustible  extent  can  for 
ever  find  freshness  in  the  offices  of  praise  and  worship. 

If  then  there  be  any  character  more  especially  marked 
in  the  Scripture  accounts  of  Christ's  advent  among  men,  it 
is  the  character  of  a  Restorer.  "  He  healeth  the  broken  in 
heart,  and  biudeth  up  their  wounds"  (Ps.  cxlvii.  3).  He  is 
the  "  Sun  of  righteousness,  with  healing  in  his  wings"  (Mai. 
iv.  2).  He  applies  to  himself  the  prophetic  account,  and 
declares  that  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  hath  sent  him  to  heal 
the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives." 
And  you  know  how  on  one  occasion  he  attributes  to  him- 
self the  character  of  one  commissioned  specially  to  recover 
the  lost  or  languishing  victims  of  this  world — "  They  that 


152 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind.  [SERM.  X. 


be  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  be  sick"  (Matt, 
ix.  12).  All  these  expressions  show  clearly  that  He  comes 
to  purify  some  presupposed  corruption,  to  repair  some 
antecedent  ruin,  to  satisfy  some  pre-existing  wants.  "What 
indeed  were  the  mass  of  his  miracles  but  types  and  images 
of  those  moral  and  inward  restorations  by  which  He  makes 
the  blind  indeed  to  see,  and  the  deaf  indeed  to  hear?  And, 
as  is  easily  shown,  it  is  the  feeling  of  these  wants  which  in 
the  minds  of  men  perpetuates  the  corresponding  feeling  of 
the  necessity  of  the  remedy;  and  it  is  tJtis  felt  necessity 
of  remedy  which  supports  the  cbaracter  and  claims  of 
Christianity  in  the  world ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  the 
slowness  of  men  to  embrace  with  sincerity  and  practical 
earnestness  the  proffered  remedy,  thus  felt  to  be  required, 
and  felt  to  be  real,  which  renders  the  Faith  in  the  crucified 
Saviour  inoperative  and  unfruitful. 

For  1st.  The  Faith  in  the  Cliristian  Sacrifice  and  its 
attendant  revelation  of  the  Divine  Character,  alone  answer 
the  demands  of  the  heart  and  reason  of  man  for  a  higher 
state  of  moral  perfection.  I  am  well  aware  how  feebly  this 
voice  is  heard  in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  world ;  man 
could  scarcely  be  deemed  a  fallen  creature,  if  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  fall  were  so  universal  as  to  prompt  the  continual 
demand  for  his  restoration.  But  it  would  also  be  an  over- 
statement to  say  that  we  have  not  a  desire  for  something 
better,  as  well  as  for  something  happier,  than  this  earthly 
state  admits.  Men  do  weary  of  the  wickedness  of  the 
world  as  really,  though  not  indeed  so  frequently,  as  of  its 
disappointments.  This  is  not  the  place  for  labored  discus- 
sions ;  and  I  will  simply  refer  you  to  one  powerful  instance 
of  this  anxiety  for  a  better  and  holier  condition.  I  allude 
to  cases  private  and  personal  injury.  Keflect  upon  your  emo- 
tions in  such  instances.  There  is  surely  something  more  than 
mere  resentment;  there  is  a  strong  sense  of  injustice,  and 
naturally  connected  with  it  (as  the  mind  calms  and  diffuses 
its  feelings)  a  melancholy  impression  of  the  lost  moral 


SERM.  X.]  The  Restorer  of  Ilanlcind.  153 


balance  of  the  wliole  world,  and  a  correspondent  yearning  for 
abodes  wbere  righteousness  shall  be  a  principle  of  universal 
action.  I  specify  these  cases,  not  because  the  feeling  is 
there  more  real,  but  because  it  is  more  inteivse  and  defined. 
But,  brethren !  all  these  aspirations  are  in  our  Faith  met 
and  satisfied.  Is  it  not  its  pre-eminent  character  to  unveil 
before  our  eyes  a  kingdom  where  immortally  dwelleth 
righteousness  ?  Is  not  its  great  Sacrifice  the  corner-stone 
of  the  equity  of  the  whole  moral  universe, — the  Sacrifice 
that  enables  God  to  be  at  once  "just,  and  the  justifier  of 
him  that  believeth  in  Jesus"  ?  Here  then  is  the  preaching 
of  Christ  crucified  recommended  to  the  reason  and  to  the 
heart.  Here,  in  the  beauty  of  its  holiness,  is  a  cause  of  its 
lingering  power  over  the  better  affections  even  of  those 
who  have  no  strength  to  realize  its  commands.  It  estab- 
lishes a  righteous  Governor  upon  the  throne  of  Heaven ;  it 
developes  the  symmetry  of  all  his  judgments;  it  answers 
the  inward  appeal  of  the  frail  and  wretched  beings,  who 
can  "know  the  better,"  even  while  they  "the  worse  prefer." 

2.  But  again  ;  Christianity  offers  to  maintain  a  communi- 
cation between  this  world  and  that  eternal  world  of  holiness 
and  truth.  Here  is  another  want  satisfied ;  the  aspiration 
of  weakness  made  not  merely  a  privilege  but  a  duty.  It 
would  be  easy  to  show  how  this  elevation  has  been  the 
crying  demand  of  human  nature  in  all  ages,  how  it  has  pro- 
duced and  supported  even  false  religions,  and  how  (in  its 
proper  character)  it  is  only  satisfied  in  the  true  one.  For 
the  "/^irayer"  to  which  I  allude,  as  making  Christianity 
attractive  even  to  the  frailest,  in  adapting  it  to  our  better 
affections,  is  obviously  not  a  prayer  for  enjoyments  similar 
to  those  of  daily  vice.  Yet  such  was  and  is  the  prayer  of 
the  Heathen.  The  prayer  of  a  Heathen  is  the  miserable 
deprecation  of  a  cowardly  piety  ;  for  as  is  the  Deity,  so  will 
be  the  prayer.  And  thus  too  the  purer  knowledge  of  God 
which  Christianity  unfolds  creates  a  parallel  purity  in  its 
prayer.    It  is  no  longer  to  avoid  momentary  misfortunes, 


154 


Tlie  Restorer  of  Mankind.  [SERM.  x. 


or  to  call  down  ruin  upon  transient  enemies;  but  to  be  pre- 
served unspotted  for  a  future  world  of  glory,  and  to  be 
assisted  in  vanquishing  the  one  sole  enemy  that  a  Christian 
recognizes  as  such.  And  thus  (as  before)  it  attracts  even 
the  most  negligent  by  the  beauty  of  its  provision  for  our 
real  exaltation.  And  who  can  doubt  that  it  is  the  exaltation 
to  which  reason  really  (though  feebly  perhaps)  points.  We 
for  ever  seek  a  happiness  beyond  the  reach  of  chance — 
Christian  prayer  beseeches  it ;  we  seek  repose  from  inces- 
sant troubles, — Christian  prayer  is  the  stillest  exercise  of 
soul ; — we  ask  even  by  blind  impulses  of  nature  for  pardon 
in  the  wretched  consciousness  of  depravity, — Christian 
prayer  encourages  our  timidity  into  confidence.  Here  then 
is  a  provision  which  (rightly  considered)  is  really  peculiar 
to  our  Faith ;  and  which  so  truly  utters  the  wants  of  our 
condition,  that  it  is,  as  it  were,  but  the  direction  of  Nature 
in  the  channels  and  currents  of  grace. 

3.  Another  particular  in  which  this  blessed  Faith  com- 
mends itself  to  our  wants,  is  in  its  confirmation  and  direc- 
tion of  that  principle  of  Hope  which  even  in  our  daily  and 
worldly  life  we  are  perpetually  forced  to  substitute  for  hap- 
piness. It  leaves  the  tendency,  but  it  alters  the  object. 
How  prominent  this  principle  is  in  our  Christian  life,  I 
need  not  remind  you.  "  We  are  saved  by  Hope."  That  is, 
we  are  saved  by  the  exercise  of  a  principle  which  we  are  in 
some  measure  instinctively  inclined  to  make  the  source  of 
our  earthly  happiness ;  but  which,  as  yet,  we  have  known 
as  little  more  than  the  harbinger  of  disappointment.  That 
our  Hope  in  Christ  is  no  such  delusion,  I  am  not  now 
about  to  argue.  I  am  only  inviting  jour  attention  to  its 
admirable  aptitude  to  our  condition,  as  employing  that 
machinery  of  Hope  and  Trust,  which  Nature  before  pos- 
sessed, for  higher  objects  than  nature  ever  contemplated. 
The  Author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  describes  Chris- 
tians as  those  "  who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  upon  the 
hope  set  he/ore  ihevi ;  which  hope  they  have  as  an  anchor 


SERM.  X.] 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


155 


to  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast."  The  Hope  which 
deserves  such  characters,  is  in  its  nature  as  a  feeling  of  the 
soul  the  same  as  that  which  we  waste  upon  the  emptiest 
dreams  of  time  ;  but  it  was  He  "  who  is  our  Hope"  that  first 
taught  the  feeling  to  be  sure  and  steadfast,  that  first  made 
it  indeed  "  the  anchor  of  the  soul,"  becavse  he  first  made  it 
(as  the  passage  goes  on  to  say)  a  hope  "  which  entereth  into 
that  within  the  vail." 

4.  But  above  all  its  recommendations  to  the  wants  and 
solicitudes  of  man,  the  Gospel  commends  itself  by  the  ador- 
able object  which  it  presents  to  our  affections.  The  pining 
attachments  which  find  no  earthly  being  commensurate  to 
the  magnitude  of  their  own  nature,  cannot  wholly  resist 
the  attraction  of  the  Being  whom  the  Gospel  reveals.  The 
God  who  in  his  character  of  a  Providential  Governor  is  in- 
accessible to  our  conceptions  and  coldly  present  to  our 
reason,  is  in  Christ  a  Friend  who  is  more  than  a  Brother. 
The  language  which  iuspiration  gives  our  lips  upon  this 
subject  transcends  the  natural  understanding,  and  yet  even 
the  natural  heart  can  find  some  dim  echoes  to  the  celestial 
call.  The  devotion  with  which  we  are  encouraged  to  re- 
gard this  great  God  and  Saviour  of  the  New  Testament, — 
the  affection  with  which  He  has  contemplated  us  (for  "  we 
love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us")  create  a  new  and  holy 
and  eternal  bond  of  love,  such  as  in  its  fulness  indeed  our 
fallen  humanity  could  never  have  anticipated,  yet  such  as 
becomes  an  answer  to  many  of  the  profoundest  wants  of 
the  Soul.  And  the  worldly  themselves  (so  great  is  the 
influence  of  such  a  system  of  belief  among  us)  may  be 
struck  by  reflecting,  how  enormous  would  be  the  desolation 
of  the  Universe  to  even  their  minds,  if  the  God  of  the  Gos- 
pel were  suddenly  to  disappear  from  their  habitual  con- 
victions, and  the  Gospel  itself  to  be  detected  as  a  dream! 
A  sceptic  could  allow  tlie  horror  of  "  a  fatherless  world  ;" 
but  those  who  (even  practically  feeble  and  remiss)  have 
ever  contemplated  the  purity  and  beauty  of  the  Divine 


156 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind,  [serm.  X. 


lineaments  visible  in  the  Christ  of  the  Gospel  can  conceive 
a  something  not  less  terrible  in  the  dismal  vacancy  of  a 
"  redeemerless  world !" 

Thus,  brethren,  we  see  that  even  in  its  most  superficial 
view,  the  Faith  that  we  preach  has  its  attractions.  Thus 
we  see  that  even  to  the  godless  wanderer,  its  restoring  pro- 
mises, its  soothing  and  sympathizing  aspect,  makes  it  a 
something  from  which  he  would  not  willingly  be  divorced. 
There  are  those  indeed,  to  whom  it  is  seen  only  in  its  terrors, 
and  to  whom  it  brings  but  a  heart  of  desperation  and  a 
tongue  of  curses.  But  I  speak  now  of  the  general  com- 
plexion of  our  ordinary  society.  And  I  call  upon  you  to 
press  upon  your  hearts  the  lesson ;  that  all  this  prompti- 
tude to  admire  and  to  support  the  faith  of  Christ  in  the 
world,  is  but  an  aggravation  of  guilt,  if  your  inward  hearts 
nevertheless  prefer  the  world  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 

And  now,  brethren!  I  beseech  you  not  to  misunderstand 
me,  as  if,  when  I  thus  speak  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Faith  commends  itself  to  the  wants  of  man  even  in  his 
natural  condition,  I  could  mean  to  imply  that  it  can  make 
any  due  or  deep  impression  without  higher  aids  than  nature 
ever  gave.  This  is  not  my  reasoning, — most  emphatically  it 
is  not.  No, — but  from  the  felt  beauty  and  perfection  of 
our  Christian  scheme  of  teaching,  I  take  occasion  to  press 
you  to  make  the  great  restorative  truly  your  own  by  the 
appointed  means  of  spiritual  enlightenment.  I  beseech  you 
to  beseech  God  your  Father,  that  He  would,  of  his  own 
transcendant  grace,  quicken  into  earnestness  that  passive 
reception  and  merely  verbal  approbation  of  its  claims, 
which  I  have  been  all  along  describing.  All  these  excel- 
lencies are  formed,  indeed,  as  the  text  has  it,  to  "  restore 
health  unto  you,  and  to  heal  you  of  your  wounds;"  but  to 
heal,  they  must  be  received  by  Faith.  And  Faith  is, — the 
gift  of  God.  Is  it  then  a  vain  or  daring  course  of  the 
Christian  Minister,  to  attempt  to  analyze  the  medicine  in 
order  to  show  its  suitableness, — as  long  as  he  teaches  that 


SERM.  X.]  The  Restorer  of  Mankind.  157 


it  can  successfully  operate,  only  through  a  God-given  ac- 
ceptance of  it  ?  To  deny  that  we  may  reverently  look  into 
these  things, — on  the  ground  that  God  alone  can  apply 
them, — would,  by  a  false  humility,  be  to  enthrone  the  So- 
vereignty of  Grace  upon  the  ruins  of  Reason.  No.  Examine 
all,  learn  all,  search  all, — as  long  as  you  remember,  that, 
whatever  be  your  admiration  of  the  plan  of  the  Gospel, 
"  no  man  cometh  to  Christ,  except  the  Father  draw  him." 

Finally,  my  brethren !  and  before  we  part, — reflect  how 
the  Religion  of  Christ  (considered  as  we  have  considered 
it)  regards  the  World  into  which  it  enters  ?  As  a  vast 
Hospital,  crowded  with  every  wretched  variety  of  sickness. 
From  the  burning  fever  of  violent  passion  to  the  cold  palsy 
of  heartless  neglect,  it  contemplates  all,  and  understands  all, 
and  is  adapted  for  all.  The  Sovereign  Restorer  is  busy 
among  the  throng:  the  diversities  of  misery  are  familiar 
to  its  diversity  of  powers.  It  interprets  their  griefs  for 
those  whose  miserable  restlessness  betrays  the  disorder 
they  cannot  themselves  comprehend;  and  it  interprets,  only 
to  restore.  And,  brethren !  what  the  world  at  large  is,  this 
assembly  is  also.  Is  not  this  very  room, — and  every  other 
crowded  temple  of  our  city  this  morning, — an  hospital  of 
the  heart?  Every  Christian  Congregation  is  but  a  minia- 
ture of  the  Christian  World.  Am  I  mistaken  (would  to 
God  I  were!)  when  I  say  that  here  too  there  sit  at  this 
hour  more  than  one  sufferer  by  the  maladies  of  our  misera- 
ble nature,  aggravated  by  the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  the 
world  we  have  to  live  in?  Am  I  deceived  (would  to  God  I 
were !  but  the  Pulpit  is  not  the  place  for  flattery)  when  I  say 
that  even  here,  there  are  this  moment  more  than  one  who 
come  to  ask  for  a  remedy  they  will  not  accept,  and  to  wor- 
ship a  God  whom  they  will  not  serve f  Oh,  brethren!  if 
any  of  you  there  be  who  feel  the  feebleness,  and  require 
the  cure,  beware  of  saying  to  the  ministers  of  Christ  as  Job 
did  to  his  friends, — "  Ye  are  forgers  of  lies,  and  physicians 
of  no  value!"  When  you  come  to  the  Church  of  God, 
VOL.  II.— 14 


158 


The  Restorer  of  Mankind. 


[SERM.  X. 


you  come  to  the  great  dispensaries  of  heavenly  health. 
Pass  not  from  ours  this  day  without  profit.  Our  Master, 
brethren  I  was  assailed  because  He  healed  on  the  Sabbath- 
day  ;  but  to  us  (as  to  llim)  it  is  not  only  "  lawful  to  heal 
on  the  Sabbath,"  but  the  Sabbath  is  peculiarly  appropriated 
for  the  blessed  work.  May  the  serious  thoughts  and  holy 
aspirations  of  this  day,  register  ours  in  heaven,  as  one  dis- 
tinguished in  the  history  of  souls  restored  and  regenerated 
for  eternal  glory  I 


SEEMON  XI. 


THE  TRUE  FAST. 

(Preached  for  the  Mendicity  Institution,  at  St  Stephen's  Chapel,  Dublin.    Sunday  Morn- 
ing, July  23,  1837.) 

Is  not  this  the  '  fast'  that  I  have  chosen?  Is  it  not,  to  deal  thy  bread  to 

the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor  that  are  cast  out,  to  thy  house? 
When  thou  seest  the  nailed,  that  thou  cover  him,  and  that  thou  hide  not  thy- 
self from  thine  own  flesh? — Isaiah  Iviii.  6.  7. 

Brethren!  the  passage  which  I  have  just  read  to  you, 
and  which  I  trust  you  will  feel  to  be  practically  appropriate 
to  the  occasion  on  which  I  have  to  address  you  to-day, — 
is  one  of  those  in  which  the  purity  and  holiness  peculiar 
to  the  Gospel,  seem  to  be  foretokened  in  the  morality  of 
the  prophetic  Canon,  Isaiah  has  been  termed  the  Evan- 
gelical Prophet;  and  he  is  so,  not  more  in  the  transcendent 
clearness  of  his  predictions  of  evangelic  facts,  than  in  the 
corresponding  brightness  of  his  anticipations  of  evangelic 
holiness.  As  the  inspired  writers  approached  the  great 
centre  of  purity,  they  became  more  and  more  deeply  tinged 
with  the  glory  they  were  approaching.  The  twilight  clouds 
were  red  with  the  coming  Sun.  The  odor  of  celestial 
sanctity  which  filled  and  encompassed  that  divine  Person 
who  was  essentially  and  inherently  Holy,  diffused  itself  (as 
in  those  eastern  islands  of  which  we  read)  far  along  the 
wide  extent  of  the  Old  Testament  records ;  and  might 
have  given  to  the  Jewish  reader  who  travelled  among  them 
constant  and  beautiful  notices  of  the  fragrant  scenery — the 


160 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


Balm  of  still  more  ethereal  doctrine — he  was  approaching, 
and  of  Him,  its  Presiding  Spirit, — Him,  who  (as  the  Sacred 
Song  mystically  has  it)  is  above  all  "  perfumed  with  myrrh 
and  frankincense." 

I  do  not  indeed  mean  to  assert,  that  the  moral  illumina- 
tion of  the  Prophets  always  increased  in  direct  proportion 
to  their  proximity  to  the  age  of  the  Lord  whom  they  pre- 
dicted. Such  an  assertion  would  be  hasty  and  ungrounded. 
No  sucli  law  is  discernible  in  the  distribution  of  prophetical 
inspiration.  When  Moses  predicted  the  prophet  that  was 
to  succeed  him  at  the  distance  of  centuries,  he  was  perhaps 
vouchsafed  a  vision  of  the  glory  to  come  more  perfect  than 
Isaiah  ever  possessed,  and  an  apprehension  of  eternal  good- 
ness more  unclouded; — when  the  father  of  the  Faithful 
"saw  the  day"  of  Christ  "and  was  glad,"  the  feeling  of  joy 
which  our  Lord  represents  him  as  experiencing  in  the  per- 
ception of  the  blessed  vision,  seems  to  point  to  a  degree  of 
spiritual  exaltation  beyond,  perhaps,  that  of  the  most  favored 
of  his  followers  in  the  lineage  of  faith.  Isaiah  himself  sur- 
passes those  who  succeeded  him.  And,  therefore,  when  I 
speak  of  moral  illumination  growing  with  the  nearness  of 
the  prophets  to  their  Lord,  it  is  a  different  sort  of  proxi- 
mity or  distance  to  which  I  allude.  It  is  no  measure  of  time 
or  space  that  can  mark  the  position  of  a  prophet's  spirit  in 
relation  to  the  God  who  illumines  it.  It  is  on  the  scale  of 
a  more  mysterious  spiritual  measurement,  that  we  are  to 
compute  the  comparative  distances  at  which  it  pleases  the 
Source  of  all  excellence  to  hold  the  minds  whose  ecstasies 
contemplate,  and  whose  words  reveal  the  dispositions  of  his 
future  government.  He  to  whom  "a  thousand  years  are 
as  one  day,"  can  extend  the  arm  of  his  power  and  the 
breath  of  his  spirit  as  well  across  the  chasm  of  a  thousand 
years  as  across  the  narrow  interval  of  a  single  day;  just  as 
He  to  whom  "  one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years"  can  in  the 
unexpected  turns  of  his  providence  cover  the  events  that  a 


SERM.  XI.]  The  True  FasL  161 

single  day  is  to  bring  forth  "with  the  mystery  that  shadows 
those  of  a  thousand  years  to  come ! 

When,  therefore,  I  say  that  the  affections  of  the  prophetic 
messengers  were  inflamed  by  the  same  glorious  Source  that 
enlightened  their  understandings ;  when  I  profess  to  trace 
in  their  writings  a  parallel  growth  of  knowledge  and  of  holi- 
ness,— and  to  see  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  were  admitted 
into  the  more  secret  sanctuaries  of  the  divine  counsels,  all 
that  deep  veneration  and  all  that  practical  piety  which 
befitted  such  a  privilege;  it  will  be  obvious  to  you,  my 
brethren,  that  I  refer  to  no  nearness  in  place  or  time,  to  the 
God  who  inspired  them  and  whom  they  adored.  It  is  the 
deep  intimacy  of  the  Spirit  that  I  allude  to;  the  internal 
contact  of  God  with  man.  I  call  them  nearer  to  God,  when 
their  vision  of  his  glory  was  more  perfect; — even  as  we 
count  ourselves  nearer  to  some  earthly  object  of  admiration 
when  our  dim  and  shadowy  vision  gives  place  gradually  to 
distinct  and  definite  perception.  But  these  are  idle  com- 
parisons! What  earthly  object,  however  magnificent,  can 
suggest  the  feeblest  conception  of  what  they  beheld?  Sup- 
posing the  mind  to  be  previously  unaffected,  "vwhat  earthly 
object  would,  by  the  mere  perception  of  it,  produce  such 
terrors  as  those  which  Daniel  describes  in  narrating  that 
awful  vision  by  the  river  Iliddekel; — when  as  he  tells  us — 
"I  was  left  alone  (for  his  companions,  though  they  saw 
nothing,  had  fled  with  an  inward  and  mysterious  terror !) 
and  I  saw  this  great  vision,  and  there  remained  no  strength 
in  me:  for  my  comeliness  was  turned  in  me  into  corruption, 
and  I  retained  no  strength.  Yet  heard  I  the  voice  of  his 
words — "  or  that  of  St  John  the  divine,  when  seeing  the 
Lord  Jesus  in  his  glory  he  "  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead ;''  until 
the  same  Christ  who  had  made  him  his  chosen  friend  on 
earth  became  his  friend  also  in  this  awful  crisis;  and  in  the 
same  tone  with  which  He  addresses  the  timidity  of  every 
trusting  believer,  said — "Fear  not!  I  am  the  first  and  the 
last!" 

14* 


162 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


I  am  not  now,  brethren !  about  to  carry  this  profound 
and  mysterious  subject  to  any  farther  detail.  I  am  not 
about  to  argue  (as  I  might  perhaps  do)  that  these  prophetic 
visions — these  wondrous  intercourses  between  the  uncreated 
God  and  his  creatures,  are  a  mighty  testimony  to  the  high 
capacities  of  our  mental  nature.  I  am  not  about  to  insist 
that  they  form  a  positive,  direct,  and  palpable  evidence  that 
our  souls  are  made  capable  of  the  presence  of  the  eternal 
Spirit;  and  that,  though  compassed  by  the  evils  of  mortality, 
and  frail  through  their  dependence  on  a  frail  body,  these 
souls  are  formed  to  repose  in  the  courts  of  heaven  and  fitted 
for  the  audience-chamber  of  the  Eternal  God!  Yes, — I 
might  argue  that  if  to  us  the  influences  of  the  heavenly 
Spirit  are  inconceivable,  yet  Moses  spake  to  his  Maker — 
substantially  the  same  Spirit — "face  to  face;"  that  if  the 
agency  of  the  celestial  upon  the  earthly  be  ever  a  tempta- 
tion to  the  agonies  of  incredulity,  yet  "of  old  time.  ..holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  tvere  moved  hy  the  Holy  Spirit,^'' 
and  that  their  inspirations  are  an  instance  and  a  proof  to  us, 
of  what  it  is  within  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  world  to  effect ! 
Oh,  Christians!  "who  sorrow  as  those  without  hope!"  ye 
whose  temporal  unhappiness  have  so  clouded  your  religious 
horizon  that  in  your  earthly  troubles  you  lose  the  guiding- 
star  to  heavenly  peace, — becoming  infidels  in  misfortune, 
and  misdoubting  the  Spirit  of  consolation  when  most  you 
need  Him  to  console, — turn,  I  pray  you,  to  the  prophetic 
records,  and  learn  and  be  wiser  as  you  learn, — how  the 
captivity  of  the  prophets  of  abandoned  Judah  was  illumined 
by  the  glorious  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God, — how  those 
very  "  rivers  of  Babylon"  by  which  the  people  sat  down 
and  wept" — the  "  river  of  Chebar"  and  the  "  river  of  Ulai" 
— were  made  the  especial  theatre  of  some  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent manifestations  of  the  Lord  Jehovah's  helping  and 
consoling  presence  that  are  contained  in  the  whole  series  of 
the  prophetic  visitations! . . .  But  (as  I  said)  it  is  not  to  these 
subjects,  profoundly  interesting  though  they  be,  and  though 


SEEM.  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


163 


tlie  text  before  us  might  naturally  invite  such  considera- 
tions, that  I  would  now  conduct  you. 

I  return  to  the  point.  I  recall  to  your  contemplation 
how  closely  allied — the  text  is  an  instance — are  the  super- 
natural illumination  aad  the  moral  elevation  of  the  pro- 
phets of  God.  The  more  their  souls  were  opened  to  the 
future,  the  more  they  imbibed  its  holy  influences.  Christ 
Jesus — the  Messiah  who  was  to  bring  in  an  everlasting 
righteousness — was  present  not  more  to  the  vision  of  such 
men,  than  to  their  affections.  Living  in  the  august  pre- 
sence of  God,  their  practical  life  took  its  complexion  from 
their  habitual  society. .  .True  it  is,  that,  now  and  then,  the 
Lord  of  holiness,  for  his  own  mysterious  purposes,  suffered 
the  accents  of  genuine  prophecy  to  pass  from  profane  lips ; 
but  He  gave  to  such  no  continuous  commission  to  instruct 
his  people.  They  predicted  not  by  rule  but  by  exception  ; 
— if  all  prophecy  be  miracle  in  relation  to  the  common 
laws  of  knowledge,  theirs  was  a  miracle  even  in  relation  to 

the  scheme  and  world  of  miracles  In  every  age  of  his 

dispensations,  it  has  been  the  undeviating  law  of  God  to 
combine  together  the  real  knowledge  of  real  truth  with  the 
habits  and  feelings  of  real  goodness.  He  has  made  the 
pathway  to  his  truth  to  lie  through  the  heart ;  He  has  made 
in  all  ages,  the  practical  devotedness  of  a  good  life  to  be  at 
once  the  preparative  of  belief  and  the  consequence  of  it. 
How  it  springs  (in  all  its  rich  varieties  of  charity)  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  I  need  not  now  detail; — how  it 
leads  to  such  a  knowledge,  I  leave  Him  to  convince  you 
who  has  declared  "If  any  man  ivill  do  his  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God  !" 

Here  then,  brethren !  is  the  reason  why  I  have  insisted 
on  the  moral  elevation  and  personal  holiness  that  charac- 
terized the  prophetic  calling.  Here  is  the  reason  why  in 
selecting  a  passage  of  deep  practical  import  for  our  con- 
sideration on  this  festival  of  charity,  I  have  thought  it 
right  not  only  to  declare  to  you,  as  a  mere  revelation  of 


164 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


truth,  what  the  Spirit  of  God  spoke  through  the  lips  of 
Isaiah,  but  also  to  remind  you  at  luhat  time  tlic  Isaiah 
lived  who  delivered  it,  and  in  ichat  manner  he  and  his 
prophetic  brethren  were  wont  to  live  and  act  in  virtue  of 
their  high  privileges.  I  have  told  you  that  in  the  exact 
proportion  in  which  they  obtained  glimpses  of  the  truth  of 
God,  they  manifestly  increased  in  love  to  Him  and  to  man 
for  his  sake !  I  have  told  you  that  the  nearer  they  stood 
in  their  hours  of  vision  to  the  unveiled  glory  of  the  coming 
Messiah,  the  more  ardently  burned  their  hearts,  and  the 
more  fervently  were  fixed  their  resolutions  of  unwearied 
practical  charity.  I  have  reminded  you  that  the  blessed 
truth  of  the  text  was  spoken  by  one  whose  soul  was 
familiar  with  the  laws  and  designs  of  Providence,  and,  as 
it  would  appear,  in  the  very  spirit  of  that  prophetical 
familiarity; — and  I  have  selected  this  very  passage  out  of 
a  host  of  similar  passages  (for  blessed  be  God !  the  whole 
Bible  is  but  one  long  revelation  of  the  essential  beneficence 
of  our  Maker !)  in  order  to  impress  upon  you  the  glorious 
identity  of  the  eternal  principles  of  Scripture  morality  in 
every  age — before  Christ,  and  under  Christ,  and  after 
Christ.  Christians !  need  I  make  the  application  ?  Are 
your  hearts  able  to  receive  it?  If  those  who  lived  in  the 
shadowy  realms  of  type  and  vision  could  feel  the  force  of 
maxims  so  pure  and  benevolent, — if  a  promissory  Christ 
could  create  so  fervent  a  flame  of  charitable  zeal  in  the 
breasts  of  the  prophets, — what  becomes  you  who  have  (as 
the  Apostle  applies  it)  "  the  word  nigh  you^  even  in  your 
moxUh  and  in  your  heart:  that  is,  the  word  of  faith  which  we 
preach"?  Had  those  men  visions  of  God?  What  then? 
do  not  we,  if  we  possess  faith,  "  endure  as  seeing  Him  who 
is  invisible"  ?  Had  these  men  spiritual  gifts?  What  then? 
have  we  no  Spirit  to  enlighten  us — no  privilege  of  prayer 
that  secures  his  presence  ?  Brethren — "  there  are  diversities 
of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit."  The  prophetic  messengers — 
these  "  holy  men  of  old"— had  no  monopoly  of  the  infinite 


SERM,  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


165 


Spirit  of  Holiness; — their  gifts  are  recorded  not  to  dis- 
hearten but  to  encourage  us.  If  such  blessings  were 
bestowed  in  the  old  time,  what  will  be  done — what  is  done 
in  that  which  is  pre-eminently  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit; — that  in  which  in  literal  truth  (how  we  can  slumber 
in  the  midst  of  such  truths — "  dark  with"  our  very  "  excess 
of  light !")  the  Spirit  of  God  forms  a  ready  and  perpetual 
channel  of  communication  between  our  hearts  and  the 
source  of  all  holiness — a  ladder,  like  that  of  the  patriarch's 
vision,  from  earth  to  heaven !  If  formerly  that  Spirit 
bestowed  isolated  gifts  of  practical  holiness  on  isolated 
individuals,  is  He  not  now,  as  it  were,  the  Sensorium  of 
the  entire  Christian  system,  the  ineffable  medium  through 
which  it  receives  the  impressions  and  impulses  of  that 
divine  Essence  which  is  evermore  around  it,  in  which  "it 
lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being !"  Brethren  !  with  such 
an  aid  as  this — are  u-e  unable,  with  our  distinct  appre- 
hensions of  divine  truths — with  our  unclouded  knowledge 
of  the  essential  goodness  of  the  divine  character  as  revealed 
in  his  incarnate  Son — are  we,  I  say,  who  possess  the 
harvest  that  ages  were  spent  in  maturing  (for  it  was 
decreed  "  that  they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect") 
are  we  unable  to  realize  the  unworldliness,  the  benevolence, 
the  charity,  that  the  prophets  of  the  elder  time  seeing  their 
God  through  a  cloud  (of  radiance  indeed,  but  still  a  cloud), 
could  preach,  and  practise,  and  perish  as  martyrs  to  sup- 
port in  the  world ! 

You  see  now,  brethren !  why  I  brought  Isaiah  before 
you,  and  his  brother  prophets, — these  men  who  were  holier, 
and  heavenlier,  and  richer  in  the  works  of  love,  upon  an 
anticipated  Christ,  than  we  are  in  a  Christ  already  our  cru- 
cified example.  These  men  of  God  knew  no  divorce  be- 
tween belief  and  love;  between  living  perpetually  in  the 
presence  of  a  benevolent  Lord,  and  imitating  his  benevo- 
lence to  their  fellow-creatures !  As  it  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
that  has  solemnized  the  union  of  the  Principle  of  Faith 


166 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


with  the  works  of  Charity,  so  it  is,  and  in  all  ages  has  been, 
the  master-policy  of  the  Spirit  of  Evil  to  effect  their  separa- 
tion. But  what  "  God  hath  joined  together  let  no  man  put 
asunder!"  This  same  purpose  of  separation  which  in 
darker  ages  (as  we  call  them)  the  Enemy  of  Man  sought  to 
accomplish  by  making  faith  stand  for  a  catalogue  of  super- 
stitious observances, — similar  to  the  fasts  of  which  the  pro- 
phet speaks  in  the  text, — he  now  attempts  to  accomplish 
by  exaggerating  and  perverting  its  more  legitimate  signifi- 
cation. The  former  cheat  became  impossible  when  the  Scrip- 
tures began  to  be  read;  the  latter  I  trust  will  become 
equally  rare,  as  the  Scriptures  begin  to  be  felt ...  So  subtle 
is  the  dexterity  of  the  human  heart  in  evil,  that  even  from 
the  most  salutary  truth  it  can  extort  a  poison  . . .  The  prin- 
ciple of  religious  dependence  which  in  the  Scriptures  is 
called  "jPa/Z/i," — that  principle  which  begins  in  a  making 
to  feel  and  know  a  Redeemer  (that  is  a  pardoning  and  re- 
storing God)  to  be  needed  and  to  be  provided,  which  con- 
tinues in  habitually  depending  on  Him  and  making  a  com- 
munion with  Him  the  business  and  happiness  of  life,  and 
which  naturally  acts  itself  out  in  works  of  love  to  men  ; — 
that  principle  which,  restoring  the  communication  between, 
fallen  man  and  his  Maker  (a  communication  for  which  his 
unfallen  nature  was  originally  made)  must  obviously  be  the 
highest  and  purest  state  of  minds  on  this  side  of  the  grave ; 
— that  principle  which  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  the 
general  religious  principle  as  exerted  by  a  frail  towards  a 
perfect  nature,  turned  into  the  channel  of  Christ's  redeem- 
ing work  and  regenerating  promises,  and  matured  to  a 
simpler  purity  by  his  gracious  Spirit; — that  principle  which 
is  thus  in  its  inmost  essence  a  principle  of  unworldly  and 
absorbing  devotion,  in  its  very  nature  a  liberalizing  princi- 
ple,— for  what  will  liberalize  our  hearts  as  to  worldly  pos- 
sessions, if  continued  converse  with  a  higher  sphere  of 
being  does  not, — and  what  will  make  us  actively  loving 
and  merciful  and  charitable  towards  every  breathing  thing, 


SEEM.  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


if  habitual  confiding  access  to  a  God  whose  essence  is  Lovci 
and  who  charges  us  on  our  loyalty  and  gratitude  that  we 
make  ourselves  the  ministers  of  his  mercies,  do  not  ? — 
This  principle,  I  say,  thus  in  its  essential  quality  formed 
to  be  obviously  the  master-spring  of  the  whole  system  of 
life's  duties ; — this  principle  by  which  the  Spirit  of  God, 
who  bestows  it,  may  in  a  manner  be  said  at  the  same  mo- 
ment to  justify  and  sanctify  us, — this  principle  which,  in  a 
word,  puts  our  human  souls  in  the  full  sunlight  at  once  of 
divine  favor  and  divine  holiness, — a  principle  which  is  in 
itself  so  noble  and  in  its  necessary  results  so  pregnant  and 
productive, — this  (by  the  miserable  ingenuity  of  the  de- 
praved heart  of  man)  has  been  perverted  into  a  barren  act 
of  speculative  conviction,  an  audacious  assumption  of  divine 
favor,  and  a  secret  internal  justification  of  indolence,  covet- 
ousness,  and  unspirituality.  This  subject  {jyracticalli/  simple 
enough — else  how  was  "the  Gospel"  ever  "preached  to  the 
poor?")  has  been  so  beset  by  the  thorns  of  controversy 
(another  device  of  Satan !)  that  I  suppose  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  say  that  in  making  these  melancholy  assertions,  I 
allude  to  no  professed  sect,  party,  or  denomination  whatever. 
No, — Christians  and  brethren !  the  only  sect  I  allude  to,  is 
that  terrible  and  wide-spread  sect  which  began  at  the  Fall 
and  will,  I  fear,  continue  to  the  Judgment, — that  sect  whose 
birth  is  in  the  unchanged  evil  of  the  human  heart, — of 
which  the  Devil  is  Arch-heretic  and  Founder; — that  sect 
without  a  name,  which  in  one  form  or  another  has  in  every 
age  compromised  between  Heaven  and  Hell,  by  giving  its 
beliefs  to  the  one,  and  its  conduct  and  heart  to  the  spirit 
who  governs  the  other/  Oh,  brethren!  whatever  outward 
modification  of  Protestantism  you  embrace,  avoid  this  mas- 
ter delusion !  Let  no  man  lull  your  constant  "  diligence  to 
make  your  calling  sure,"  on  pretence  of  selling  you  a 
cheaper  talisman  for  heaven  !  Let  no  man  persuade  you  that 
Heaven  is  to  be  won  by  anything  which  does  not  necessa- 
rily bring  with  it  the  "  purity  of  heart  without  which"  no 


168 


The  True  Fast. 


[SEKM.  XI. 


soul  "sliall  see  Godl"  Let  no  metaphysical  subtleties  (the 
misfortune  of  our  age)  about  the  cause,  or  the  essence,  or 
the  period  of  justification,  cheat  you  into  dreaming  that 
any  thing  can  be  a  principle  of  justification  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  God,  which  is  not  also  in  its  necessary  results  upon 
your  hearts  and  life  a  principle  of  sanctification  fitting  you 
for  his  divine  approval !  Be  content  to  "  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,"  to  live  habitually  in  the  presence  of 
Christ,  to  verify  constant  faith  by  constant  love, — and  you 
can  afford  to  resign  to  the  God  of  the  Universe  the  myste- 
ries of  his  providence  in  the  work  of  salvation ! 

Brethren !  our  work  of  love  this  day  has  warranted  my 
enlarging  on  this  everlasting  connection  between  your  faith 
as  believers  and  your  development  of  that  faith  in  universal 
charity.  I  will  go  yet  farther,  and  suggest,  that  your  habits 
of  benevolence  in  this  life, — those  habits  which  this  day 
we  are  calling  upon  you  to  exercise, — are  intended  as  a 
training  for  a  love  more  perfect  which  is  to  the  glory  of  a 
future  state,  a  love  concentrated  upon  a  diviner  object  1  Bear 
with  me  a  moment  while  timidly  indeed  as  becomes  a 
feeble  fellow-sinner,  I  would  dare  to  speculate  on  that  world 
which  you  are  now  educating  your  hearts  to  enjoy  !  Yes, — 
the  tenderness  of  soul  which  strengthens  in  this  morning's 
act  of  charity,  may  be  disciplining  itself  for  a  higher  sphere ; 
this  day  may  bear  a  fruit  to  eternity ! 

The  whole  religious  providence  of  God  towards  Man  in 
every  age  has  been  a  system  operating  by  the  combined 
influences  of  Faith  and  Love ;  both  directed  towards  his 
own  perfect  essence.  In  the  Old  Testament  dispensation 
(as  you  read  in  the  noble  summary  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews)  Faith  was  the  leading  principle, — faith  dependent 
on  a  God  who  appeared  as  a  rewarding  and  avenging  power. 
In  our  dispensation,  where  God  has  allayed  the  terrors  of 
his  power  in  the  mercies  of  Jesus  Christ,  Love  mingles 
largely  with  our  devotional  states ;  and  as  I  believe,  in  the 
dispensation  to  come.  Faith  will  fade  before  the  absorbing 


SERM.  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


169 


lustre  of  her  sister  grace,  and  Love  consuming  and  trans- 
forming all  to  its  own  substance,  rule  for  ever  the  glorified 
spirit  of  man !  In  our  existing  condition,  what  is  Faith 
but  Love  relying  on  support?  What  is  Love  but  Faith 
forgetting  the  support  in  the  supporter?  Now,  in  a  higher 
state  of  consummate  perfection,  a  higher  motive  will  be 
ours  than  the  consciousness  of  a  feebleness  that  requires  constant 
sM2;/)or< ...  Admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  eternal  Source  of 
all  Good,  the  answering  affections  of  the  purified  heart 
will  secure  allegiance  by  their  own  independent  exercise. 
"  Underneath  will  be  the  everlasting  arms,"  as  before ;  but 
we  shall  be  too  ranch  engaged  in  looking  on  the  glorious 
countenance  of  the  Supporter,  to  be  much  engaged  iu 
relying  on  the  support!  If  even  in  this  world  we  can,  as 
St  Peter  tells  us,  "  become  partakers  of  the  divine  nature," 
can  we  doubt  that  such  a  participation  is  meant  to  form  the 
main  glory  of  the  next ;  and  if  this  be  so,  is  it  not  remark- 
able that  this  celestial  principle  of  Love  (which  seems  to  be 
the  final  perfection  of  man  and  the  central  principle  of  the 
Gospel  dispensation)  is  really  the  only  one  in  which  w^c  can 
perceive  the  possibility  of  a  reciprocation  between  our  God 
and  ourselves?  If  we  rest  upon  God  by  Faith,  yet  lie  can- 
not rest  upon  us;  if  we  pour  ourselves  upon  him  in  grati- 
tude, yet  He  cannot  return  gratitude  to  us ;  if  we  approach 
him  in  Fear,  yet  He  cannot  fear  his  creatures;  but  in  Love 
alone  our  God  and  we  are  fitted  to  combine !  there  alone 
the  human  and  the  divine  nature  arc  one  !  "  We  love  Him, 
because  He  first  loved  ms."  In  liis  other  aft'ections  as  pic- 
tured in  the  Gospels,  we  talk  of  the  "/iw??i«n"  and  the 
"c?<ViW  nature  of  Christ  coming  prominently  forward;  in 
the  daily  manifestations  of  Ids  love  alone,  we  know  not 
which  nature  it  is  that  speaks,  for  that  lovely  principle 
belongs  to  both  alike! 

So  far,  my  brethren !  for  the  love  of  Man  to  his  Creator. 
I  hope  sincerely,  that  such  views  will  not  appear  to  you 
a  cloudy  mysticism.    The  truth  is,  that  in  our  liappicr 
VOL.  II. — 15 


170 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


moments  these  tilings  strike  us  with  all  the  force  of 
absolute  demonstration;  but  in  the  busy  turmoil  of  the 
world  the  transparent  waters  are  shaken,  and  the  reflection 
of  heaven  is  lost.  The  delusions  of  daily  life  act  as  the 
ministry  of  Satan  to  hide  these  glimpses  of  a  higher  life 
from  our  hearts ! 

Still  it  may  be  said, — this  Love  of  God  is  the  contem- 
l^lation  of  supreme  excellence ;  how  can  the  love  of  the 
creatures, — the  practice  of  benevolence  towards  frail  and 
faulty  mortals,  form  a  training  for  so  holy  and  so  lofty  an 
emotion  ? 

I  cannot  now  pause  to  discuss  this  at  any  length.  I  can 
only  afibrd  time  to  observe, — if  you  remember  that  God  is 
Love ;  and  if  you  combine  with  this  great  revelation  the 
fact  that  in  proportion  as  we  attain  a  quality  of  goodness 
we  learn  to  estimate  and  love  those  who  possess  it ;  you 
will  soon  see  that  every  progressive  step  in  attaining  habits 
of  compassion  and  kindness  upon  earth,  must  necessarily 
be  a  step  towards  estimating  and  loving  Him  who  is  the 
essential  Spirit  of  Benevolence  And  besides  this,  doubt- 
less, the  earthly  affection  resembles  in  some  mysterious 
way  the  heavenly;  else  the  same  title  could  scarcely  be 
chosen  for  both.  Yes, — the  Love  of  Man  is  the  type  and 
shadow  of  the  Love  of  God, — the  first  step  upon  a  pathway 
that  conducts  to  paradise.  The  people  of  God  are  here 
engaged  with  the  rudiments  and  images  of  those  affec- 
tions which  are  to  be  the  duty  and  the  happiness  of  their 
eternity ! 

And  therefore  it  is,  brethren !  and  with  a  view  to  this 
final  glorification,  that  we  are  placed  in  this  world  in  the 
midst  of  scenes  formed  to  elicit  and  consolidate  the  habits 
of  mercy  and  compassion.  Among  the  many  reasons  for 
the  existence  of  moral  and  physical  evil,  is  not  this  a  rea- 
son of  force,  that  the  miseries  of  mankind  form  a  school 
for  the  education  of  the  people  of  God?  Our  heavenly 
Master  has  not  chosen  to  spare  Christian  climes  the  curse 


SERM.  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


171 


of  poverty ;  but  the  genuine  Christian  can  convert  the 
curse  into  a  blessing.  To  his  own  disciples  He  declared 
"The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you."  He  came  not  to 
turn  the  world  into  a  heaven,  but  to  make  it  the  path  to 
heaven !  Wherefore  do  we  move  in  the  midst  of  destitu- 
tion, but  because  we  move  in  the  midst  of  trial  and  disci- 
pline ?  Wherefore  are  you  all  who  hear  me  made  the  stew- 
ards of  God  and  ministers  of  his  wealth, — the  mediators 
between  God  and  his  poor, — but  because  in  his  mercy  He 
would  give  you  opportunities  of  "laying  up  treasures  in 
heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt !"  Ob, 
brethren !  turn  not  your  riches  into  curses !  You  who 
possess  the  means  of  diffusing  earthly  blessings, — woe 
unto  you  if  you  forget  the  responsibility  that  attaches  to 
the  possession !  Woe  unto  you  if  concentrating  them  all 
upon  your  own  persons  you  shut  your  ears  to  the  cries  of 
the  myriads  that  starve  at  your  gates,  and  laboring  to 
make  the  earth  a  heaven  for  yourselves,  leave  it  (as  far  as 
you  caTi  do)  to  be  a  hell  for  the  wretches  who  surround 
you!  Such  warnings  are  addressed  to  all.  There  is  none 
who  cannot  spare  his  proportion :  there  is  none  who  is  not 
a  creditor  to  God  for  every  particle  of  wealth  he  possesses ; 
there  is  none  who,  in  denying  aid  to  the  destitute,  is  not 
presuming  to  cheat  his  heavenly  Master  out  of  his  own 
intrusted  property  1 

You  are  aware,  brethren !  on  what  account  it  is  that  I 
speak  to  you  in  this  tone  to-day.  The  melancholy  notices 
that  cover  the  walls  of  your  city  have  already  apprised 
you  that  the  strength  of  your  Christian  principles  is  to  be 
tried  in  the  preservation  from  imminent  peril,  of  an  Insti- 
tution whose  object  is  to  secure  your  destitute  fellow-crea- 
tures from  starvation.  It  is  no  slight  toil  for  Christian 
ministers  to  be  called  on  continually  to  perform  such 
duties  as  this ; — and  yet  I  feel  that  we  ought  to  forget  the 
toil  in  the  unequivocal  honor  it  does  to  the  Christianity  Ave 
preach.    It  shows,  however  our  faith  may  be  undervalued, 


172 


The  True  Fast. 


[SERM.  XI. 


the  world  cannot  easily  do  without  it !  If  man  was  bora 
into  a  paradise  prepared  for  his  reception,  if  he  was  to  pass 
his  hours  in  perpetual  festivity,  he  could  afford  to  forget, 
and  he  would  soon  forget,  the  very  existence  of  the 
religion  of  the  Gospel ; — but  where  there  is  sorrow  to  be 
relieved,  where  the  exhausted  treasures  of  charity  are  to 
be  replenished,  where  helplessness  solicits  support,  the 
Church  is  the  ready  resource  and  Christian  feeling  the  only 
security.  Misery  is  the  remembrance  of  our  faith ;  while 
there  is  beggary  and  wretchedness  on  earth  the  religion  of 
love  will  never  be  forgotten  ! 

Of  the  state  of  the  Institution  which  I  call  on  you  this 
day  to  support,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say, — that,  by  a 
statement  laid  before  a  meeting  of  its  Committee  on  the 
27th  of  last  month,  it  appears  that  (as  compared  with  this 
time  last  year)  its  inmates  have  increased  hy  830,  its  appli- 
cants for  admission  during  six  months  hy  1537,  that  the 
prices  of  provisions  consumed  in  the  Institution  have  risen 
to  an  alarming  height ; — and  that  the  subscriptions  receiv- 
ed to  meet  these  accumulated  di£S.culties  have  been  con- 
stantly decreasing  in  a  ratio  even  greater  than  the  increase 
of  expense.  It  would  be  needless  to  go  farther  into  calcu- 
lations which  you  can  all  easily  obtain  and  verify  for  your- 
selves. This  is  the  miserable  summary  of  the  case  that 
appeals  to  your  feelings  this  day ;  this  is  the  case,  which, 
if  you  are  backward  in  your  duty  as  Christians, — nay  as 
human  beings, — this  morning, — will  force  the  managers  of 
the  Institution  to  cast  loose  upon  society  the  army  of  pau- 
pers,— not  far  from  3000, — that  its  invaluable  care  now 
secures  from  offending  your  eyes  and  persecuting  your  « 
feelings!  I  appeal  to  jovlT personal  interests, — will  you  not 
save  your  city  from  this  inundation  of  misery  and  of  its 
consequent  vice  ?  I  appeal  to  your  hearts, — will  you  suffer 
your  ill-fated  fellow-creatures, — morally  your  equals,  to 
starve  upon  the  steps  of  your  mansions  ?  I  appeal  to  your 
justice, — will  you  permit  the  whole  expense  of  an  institu- 


SEEM.  XI.] 


The  True  Fast. 


173 


tion  that  forms  a  public  blessing,  to  fall  upon  a  few  whose 
Christian  benevolence  makes  them  your  victims  ?  I  enter 
into  no  labored  defence  of  the  principle  of  the  Institution ; 
suffice  it  to  say,  it  exists^ — and  whatever  was  its  original 
policy,  its  failure  now  would  be  a  public  calamity,  a  pesti- 
lence of  poverty  ! . ..  A  day  or  two  since  I  visited  this  recep- 
tacle of  outcasts,  while  its  ofl&cers  were  in  painful  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  possibility  of  maintaining  its  existence ; 
and  as  I  contemplated  the  disemboguing  of  the  mass  of 
mendicancy  I  have  witnessed,  in  one  flood  of  misery  upon 
the  town,  I  thought  of  that  terrific  passage  in  which  the 
prophet  declares  the  fate  of  the  abandoned  city  of  God, — 
"  The  people  shall  be  cast  out  into  the  streets  because  of 
the  famine . . .  and  they  shall  have  none  to  bury  them  ! ...  If  I 
go  forth  into  the  field  then  behold  the  slain . . .  and  if  I  enter 
into  the  city  then  behold  them  that  are  sick  with  famine !" 
Brethren,  this  must  not  be.  Talk  not  of  coming  poor  laws! 
The  God  of  Israel  has  already  settled  that  plea,  when  he 
bade  the  Israelites  not  refuse  the  poor  man,  because  the  7th 
year  (the  Jewish  poor-law)  was  approaching  (Deut.  xv.). 
Suspend  not  a  claim  of  life  and  death  on  the  chances  of 
prospective  legislation!  The  contribution  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual this  morning  may  be  the  saving  of  a  life  from  the 
agonizing  death  of  hunger!  Where  is  the  Christian  that 
on  such  terms  will  close  his  heart  and  his  purse  ?  Oh, 
brethren !  in  such  a  case  I  would  invoke  you  by  Him,  who 
for  ever  consecrated  poverty  by  living  as  a  poor  man  upon 
earth,  to  honor  by  your  tributes  the  state  which  He  hon- 
ored by  his  life!  May  lie  who  gave  himself  a  willing 
sacrifice  for  you,  incline  your  hearts  to  imitate  in  some 
poor  degree  his  beneficence,  by  making  some  return  from 
your  earthly  abundance  for  the  ineffable  blessings  he  be- 
stowed ! 


15* 


SERMON  XII. 


THE  WAY  TO  DIVINE  KNOWLEDGE. 

(Preached  for  Peter's  Schools,  Peter's  Chnrch,  Jan.  28,  1S38.) 

If  any  man  wiU  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of 
God. — John  vii.  17. 

The  version  'whicli  in  our  public  translation  is  given  of 
this  passage,  appears, — at  least  in  the  present  use  of  lan- 
guage,— to  be  faulty  from  ambiguity.  The  auxiliary  word 
"  will,"  which  is  sometimes  (as  when  we  say,  a  man  "  will 
take  a  journey,"  or  "  will  purchase  a  possession")  employed 
as  a  sign  of  a  real  action  to  be  performed  from  the  volun- 
tary effort  of  an  agent, — and  sovietimes  for  the  voluntary 
purpose  or  desire  only, — is  here,  as  well  as  in  some  other 
kindred  passages,  used  in  a  manner  which  leaves  the  Eng- 
lish reader  in  some  doubt  as  to  which  of  the  senses  was  in- 
tended ;  a  doubt  which  may  very  materially  obscure  the 
real  import  of  this  momentous  declaration.  You  are  to 
observe,  then,  that  an  appeal  to  the  original  language  of 
this  Gospel  at  once  determines,  that  the  declaration  is  not^ — 
that  if  any  man  will  actually  perform,,  or  continue  to  per- 
form, the  will  of  God  he  shall  "  know  the  doctrine ;"  hut, — 
that  if  any  man  sincerely  wish  to  perform  that  will,  he  shall 
discover  the  divine  original  and  descent  of  the  doctrine. 
The  knowledge  in  question  is  not  in  the  first  instance  sus- 
pended upon  the  cordial  voluntary  performance  of  God's 


SERM.  XII.]      The  Way  to  Divine  Knowledge. 


175 


•will,  but  purely  upon  the  purpose  to  perform  it  when  once 
discovered;  a  qualifying  condition  for  this  great  gift  of 
knowledge,  much  more  merciful,  because  much  more 
limited. 

Our  blessed  Instructor,  then,  has  here  taught  us  that  a 
sincere  desire,  intent,  and  purpose,  to  execute  the  com- 
mandments of  a  pure  and  holy  God,  from  -whatever  source 
they  be  made  known,  will  in  hearers  of  the  Gospel  be 
inevitably  attended  with  a  knowledge  of  the  true  source, 
— that  is,  with  a  recognition  of  the  real  character  of  his 
own  teaching  as  an  authentic  message  from  heaven.  "  If 
any  man  wills  to  do  His  Will,  he  shall  hwiv  the  doctrine, — 
(for  thus  it  is  better  because  more  literally  translated), — 
whether  it  be  of  God." 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  imagine  a  declaration  of  more 
moment  to  man  in  every  age,  but  above  all  to  man  in  an 
age  of  high  and  cultivated  civilization.  While  in  its  direct 
form,  as  I  have  read  it  to  you,  it  exhibits  ta  the  humble 
spirit,  a  promise  of  surpassing  mercy,  and  altogether 
worthy  of  our  God, — on  the  champions  of  an  arrogant 
enlightenment  its  converse  flashes  a  terrific  denunciation  of 
guilt  and  dismay.  For  if  it  be  certain  that  the  unfeigned 
desire  to  serve  God  is  necessarily  attended  by  a  knowledge 
of  his  truth  in  Christ,  it  must  be  equally  certain,  by  strict 
and  inevitable  consequence,  that  a  rejection  of  the  faith,  or, 
by  similar  reasoning,  a  disparagement  of  the  faith,  or  a 
neglect  of  the  faith,  or  a  carelessness  about  its  influences, 
its  advancement,  its  perpetuation, — must  arise  from  an 
absence  of  solicitude  to  please  God  in  his  chosen  form,  or 
any  God  in  any  form, — that  is,  from  a  radical  atheism  of 
the  heart.  Such  is  the  unalterable  connection  that  this 
great  proposition  establishes,  between  purity  of  will  and 
the  knowledge  of  truth  ;  between  ignorance  or  contempt  of 
a  preached  Gospel  and  real  inward  obstinacy.  Casting 
upon  unbelief  all  the  criminality  of  wilful  disobedience, 
dethroning  it  from  its  airy  supremacy  in  the  intellectual 


176 


The  Way  to 


[SERM.  XII. 


part  of  man, — where  it  sits  sometimes  in  tlie  form  of  a  gift 
of  keener  acuteness,  sometimes  in  that  of  a  superiority  to 
vulgar  prejudices, — to  a  low  and  vile  position  among  the 
worst  corruptions  of  the  heart,  it  destroys  at  a  blow  all  the 
most  cherished  flatteries  of  humanity, — it  crushes  on  their 
very  shrine  the  idol  that,  when  all  others  are  broken,  man 
would  last  resign, — the  idol  of  his  intellectual  ambition  ! 

I  invite  you,  then,  in  a  cautious,  humble,  but  earnest 
spirit  to  consider  the  real  scope  and  foundation  of  this 
statement.  The  discussion  of  this  great  law  of  Christian 
knowledge  will  form  a  fitting  preparative  for  that  work  of 
large  but  pressing  liberality, — liberality  directly  devoted 
to  sustaining  and  diffusinsr  the  means  of  this  same  reli^irious 
enlightenment, — of  which  I  am  set  here  to  be  this  day  the 
organ  and  the  advocate. 

In  order  to  clear  our  course  of  superfluous  obstructions, 
and  to  narrow  its  limits,  let  us  define  the  legitimate  compass 
of  the  doctrine.  You  will  observe,  then,  that  the  declara- 
tion of  our  Lord  applies  only  to  those  who,  by  whatever 
means,  have  been  brought  within  the  circle  of  Christian 
admonition.  This  I  conceive  to  be  implied  in  the  words 
of  the  text.  It  is  true  that  it  states  in  a  form  of  the  widest 
generality, — "  if  a7ii/  man  wish  to  do  his  will,"  but  then  it 
also  states  that  "  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  Now, 
"  doctrine,"  or  teaching,  supposes  a  teacher ;  that  is,  sup- 
poses this  prompt  servant  of  God  to  have  come  under  the 
ordinary  influences  of  religious  instruction.  You  may 
perhaps  perceive  that  I  make  this  remarlc  in  order  to 
obviate  the  extravagant  conclusion  which  a  well-known 
modern  enthusiasm  is  constantly  deriving  from  such  pro- 
mises. If, — in  order  to  establish  from  this  declaration  the 
tenet  that  a  distinct  revelation  of  unknown  truths  is  made 
to  every  worthy  heart, — it  be  answered  that  the  Spirit  may 
be  the  supernatural  instructor  here  intended,  I  need  only 
reply  in  addition  to  the  obvious  argument  from  the  con- 
text, that  such  an  interpretation  would  militate  against  the 


SERM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


177 


fundamental  principles  of  tliose  who  propose  it.  The  very- 
nature  of  the  immediate  revelation  for  which  they  contend, 
is,  to  be  self- witnessing  and  as  to  its  claims  of  divine  origin, 
irresistible.  Now  to  suppose  svx:h  a  revelation  of  unknown 
truths  here  intended,  would  certainly  be  to  suppose  the 
possibility  of  their  being  unrecognized  by  the  recipient; 
inasmuch  as,  whatever  be  the  "teaching"  contemplated, 
our  Saviour  most  manifestly  suspends  the  apprehension  of 
its  divine  origin  upon  the  previous  state  of  the  receiver's 
heart.  That  is, — He  would,  upon  this  hypothesis,  state 
that  perception  to  be  a  cont'mgencii  which  it  is  the  very 
essence  of  their  theology  to  represent  as  an  irresistible  con- 
viction, as  a  light  which  publishes  itself  and  which  it  would 
be  contradictory  to  conceive  as  requiring  the  assistance  of 
an  illumination  no  brighter  than  its  own. . .  It  is,  then,  to 
no  such  mystic  manifestations  of  undiscovered  doctrines 
that  the  present  statement  refers, — its  subjects  are  that  vast 
mass  of  mankind  whom  God's  Providence  has  placed  under 
instruction  in  Christian  Elements, — and  the  office  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  on  such  is,  not  to  enrich  them  with  new 
revelations,  but  to  impress  and  vitalize  the  old. 

Having  thus  ascertained  the  range  of  the  doctrine,  let  us 
next  examine  the  character  it  supposes.  "  If  any  man  ivill 
to  perform  the  will  of  God^  The  obvious, — and  I  suppose 
the  usual, — interpretation  of  this  passage,  states  it  as  inti- 
mating that  the  true  source  of  unbelief  is  to  be  found  in  a 
carnal  disinclination  to  make  the  sacrifices  that  the  Gospel 
peremptorily  requires  in  every  real  believer.  And  truly 
this  is  a  most  valuable  lesson,  and  as  I  have  already  hinted, 
— unquestionably  implied  by  strict  consequence  in  the 
declaration  of  our  Lord.  Yet  it  seems  to  me  even  more 
profoundly  instructive  to  look  at  this  assertion  in  its  posi- 
tive than  its  negative  form ;  to  follow  it  word  for  word,  just 
as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  Jesus ; — and  to  consider  rather 
the  glorious  consequence  of  belief  that  is  directly  stated  to 
result  from  the  existence  of  the  condition,  than  the  terrible 


178 


The  Waij  to 


[SERM.  XII. 


conclusion  we  must  draw  where  that  belief  is  rejected,  as 
to  the  absence  of  the  condition  that  would  have  brought  it. 
..."If  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall  apprehend' 
the  doctrine, — whether  it  be  of  God — ." 

There  is  in  the  expression  (both  original  and  translated) 
a  rej^elition  of  the  same  word  "  will,"  which  (except  for  pur- 
poses of  mere  explanation)  cannot  be  omitted  without,  as  I 
think,  a  great  injury  to  the  perfection  of  the  sense.  "If 
any  man  will  to  do  his  ivill,^^ — that  is,  if  there  be  a  constant 
breathing  after  a  union  of  the  human  will  with  the  divine, 
a  zealous  resolution  of  the  one  into  the  other,  an  anxious 
absorption  of  the  desires  of  the  man  into  the  purposes  of 
the  God, — then,  let  that  soul  thus  disciplined  for  truth,  but 
catch  one  glimpse  of  Christian  teaching,  the  glimpse  will 
gather  to  a  blaze,  spread  and  swell  into  noonday,  and  the 
divine  credentials  of  the  Gospel  reveal  themselves  in  cha- 
racters of  ineffable  lustre !  In  the  words  of  St  Paul, — (Rom. 
xii.  2) — by  being  "  not  conformed  to  this  world"  (which,  as 
the  "friendship  of  this  world  is  enmity  with  God,"  nearly 
coincides  with  the  resignation  contemplated  in  the  present 
text)  such  a  spirit  will  '■^ prove  what  is  that  good,  and  ac- 
ceptable, and  perfect,  ivill  of  GodP 

But, — it  will  be  objected, — how  can  such  a  state  of  mind 
be  conceived  as  altogether  prior  to  Christian  instruction  ? 
It  might  be  sufficient  to  answer,  that  to  us  the  question  is 
really  of  no  practical  moment, — to  all, — certainly  to  most, 
— of  us,  there  was  no  period  altogether  prior  to  Christian 
instruction.  And  therefore,  even  though  the  objection 
were  founded  upon  truth,  it  could  still  afford  no  excuse  to 
us  to  whom  it  cannot  possibly  apply.  With  you  and  me 
the  dawn  of  reason  and  of  religion  was  the  same ;  among 
the  earliest  forms  of  sound  to  which  our  infant  breath  was 
moulded  "  Our  Father  which  art  in  lieaven"  had  a  place. 
Your  objection, — were  it  founded, — might  perhaps  tend  to 
acquit  the  un evangelized  Indian  of  the  guilt  of  his  unsub- 


SEEM,  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


179 


dued  and  rebellious  heart ;  it  cannot  by  any  ingenuity  of 
delusion  be  applied  to  acquit  you. 

But  in  truth,  the  objection  has  little  foundation  in  any 
point  of  view,  if  the  distinction  with  which  I  commenced 
be  remembered, — that  it  is  not  obedience,  but  the  wish  to 
obey,  that  is  stated  in  the  text  as  the  condition  of  illumina- 
tion. A  man  who  once  believes  that  a  God  exists  (and 
this,  you  know,  is  presumed  in  the  expression  "  if  he  will 
to  execute  the  will  of  (?oc/,")  unquestionably  may, — under 
the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth, — imbibe  habits  of  prac- 
tical Resignation  from  his  studies  in  the  volume  of  the 
world  no  less  truly  than  from  his  studies  in  the  volume  of 
the  word, — though  not  indeed  with  anything  like  the  same 
reasonableness,  devotedness,  entireness,  purity,  and  fervor. 
Affliction  (for  instance), — the  great  medicine  of  Mercy, — may 
compel  him  to  his  knees ;  on  his  heart  thus  softened  the 
Spirit  of  Grace  may  take  its  opportunity  of  impressing  a 
deeper  subjection ;  and  thus,  this  holy  preparation  of  a  will 
prostrate  before  the  Will  that  rules  the  universe,  will  be  found 
(in  consonance  with  our  Lord's  assertion)  to  make  ready  the 
heart  for  the  perfect  teaching  of  the  Gospel.  But,  to  con- 
sider this  great  subject  to  axiy  profit,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
consider  the  entire  matter  a  little  more  comprehensively 
than  in  the  form  of  an  answer  to  an  accidental  objection. 

The  great  characteristic  of  Christian  illumination, — that 
in  which  it  is  essentially  distinguished  from  every  other 
scheme  of  instruction, — is  in  the  force  with  which  it  insists 
upon  the  great, — and,  as  a  fundamental  point,  the  novel, — 
principle, — that  the  path  to  all  knowledge  of  righteousness 
lies  through  the  heart.  I  have  expressed  the  peculiar  claims 
of  the  Gospel, — including  of  course  its  prophetic  precursors, 
— to  the  publication  of  this  principle,  with  cautions  and 
limitations ;  because  I  am  well  aware  that  in  all  the  writings 
of  the  thoughtful  in  all  ages  occasional  apprehensions  of 
such  a  truth  are  discoverable.  Founded  as  it  is,  deep  in 
human  nature,  it  was  impossible  but  that  it  should  some- 


180 


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[SERM.  XII. 


times  reveal  itself  to  those  who  spent  their  lives  in  ana- 
lyzing Immnn  nature.  But  it  is  often  (and  above  all  in  such 
subjects  as  these)  a  much  greater  .positive  discovery  to 
perceive  the  relative  importance  of  truths,  than  to  perceive 
the  truths  themselves ;  and  it  is  in  this  view  that  Christian- 
ity asserts  its  claim  to  an  important  innovation  u^on  the 
errors  of  mankind,  when,  instead  of  suffering  this  great  fun- 
damental principle  to  lie  immersed  among  a  heap  of  other 
relics  of  human  thought, — false  at  least  in  its  position 
though  so  momentously  true  in  itself, — it  declared  from 
the  very  outset  and  declared  as  the  master-law  of  its  teach- 
ing, that  the  knowledge  of  spiritual  truth  was  only  receiv- 
able by  the  preparation  of  the  Spirit,  that  the  vision  of 
divine  things  required  undiseased  eyes,  that  it  was  only 
"  the  pure  in  heart'''  who  were  qualified  to  "  see  God." 

Conformable  to  this  representation  is  the  employment  of 
the  term  "  Knowledge"  in  the  various  writings  of  the  Chris- 
tian revelation.  It  is  used  in  two  senses, — one  of  which  is 
almost  invariably  either  accompanied  with  actual  disparage- 
ment or  referred  to  a  very  subordinate  rank  in  the  educa- 
tion of  a  disciple  ; — and  the  other  of  which,  exalted  among 
the  glorious  attributes  of  his  highest  earthly  possessions, 
very  manifestly  includes  in  its  very  essence  an  ardent 
purity  of  the  affections.  To  the  former, — the  exclusively 
intellectual  sense, — may  be  referred  for  actual  disparage- 
ment,  such  declarations  as  that  in  1  Cor.  viii.  1,  that  "Know- 
ledge jpujfcth  up  f — and  for  a  statement  inferiority  in  the 
gifts  of  grace,  the  affirmation  of  St  Paul  in  the  13th  chapter 
of  the  same  Epistle  that  a  man  may  have  "  all  knowledge" 
and  yet  "be  nothing,"  and  that  "knowledge"  of  this  kind 
"  shall  vanish  away."  In  the  xvth  of  Romans  he  acknow- 
ledges that  they  are  "  filled  with  all  knowledge,"  yet  de- 
clares that  nevertheless  he  must  write  to  them  to  counsel 
and  to  warn  ;  and  prays  not  only  that  they  may  believe,  but 
that  they  may  be  "  filled  with  joy  and  peace  in  believing." 
In  the  same  manner,  in  the  2  Cor.  vi.  out  of  eight  or  nine 


SERM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knoicledge. 


181 


successive  gifts  that  the  ministers  of  God  are  besought  to 
manifest,  their  "Knowledge"  is  but  one  ;  the  purified  affec- 
tions absorb  the  rest !  And,  as  if  to  show  on  what  basis  this 
knowledge  (to  be  of  any  profit)  must  be  raised  ;  in  the  most 
animated  and. fervid  of  all  his  writings  (Eph.  i.)  he  prays 
that  his  converts  may  receive  "  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  of 
revelation," — but  it  is  "  after  he  heard  of  their  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  and  their  love  unto  all  the  saints."  Such  then 
is  the  position  in  which  inspiration  has  placed  our  intellec- 
tual (even  a  miraculous  intellectual)  knowledge  of  religious 
truth,  when  considered  in  itself  as  an  isolated  gift  of  Provi- 
dence or  grace. 

But  the  studious  and  purposed  employment  of  the  same 
(or  much  the  same)  term  in — as  will  be  evident  from  the 
contexts, — another  and  loftier  sense  throws  additional  light 
upon  the  argument ;  because  it  not  only  confirms  the  former 
reasoning,  but  it  establishes  a  further  principle  of  the  deep- 
est importance.  It  not  only  proves  that  knowledge  by 
itself  is  nothing  ;  and  i\\2it  joined  with  the  glorious  graces  of 
the  heart,  it  is  inferior  ;  but  it  also  proves  that,  nevertheless, 
even  while  we  admit  it  inferior  we  must  also  remember 
that  to  call  out  and  support  the  others  it  is  necessary ; — 
and  it  thus  raises  a  barrier  against  intellectual  j)ride  on  the 
one  hand  ;  and  against  that  enthusiasm  almost  as  dangerous 
on  the  other, — that  "  zeal  not  according  to  knowledge," 
which,  not  comprehending  how  harmoniously  adapted  is 
the  Gospel  to  the  entire  man,  and,  in  an  affected  anxiety 
for  the  religion  of  the  feelings,  would  banish  the  intellect 
from  all  participation  in  the  business  of  the  Christian  life, 
and  thus  act  as  wisely  as  those  who  should  remove  the 
fuel  from  a  fire  under  the  pretext  that  it  is  an  insult  to  the 
dignity  of  that  noble  element  to  suppose  it  to  require  such 
support ! 

I  say,  then,  that  the  real  value  of  "  Knowledge,"  when 
reduced  to  its  due  place  among  the  Christian  acquirements, 
is  easily  collected  from  that  selection  of  the  term  which  1 
VOL.  II. — 16 


182 


The  Way  to 


[SERM.  XII. 


now  proceed  to  exemplify,  to  express  some  of  the  very  loftiest 
attainments  which  humanity  can  conceive,  or  can  expect  to 
reach  under  the  choicest  influences  of  the  holy  Spirit. 
Whatever  be  the  nature  of  these  attainments,  and  whatever 
other  and  higher  elements  they  may  include,  it  seems  most 
undeniable  that  they  presuppose  an  element  of  knowledge, 
as  otherwise  it  is  inconceivable  why  the  term  should  be 
selected  to  express  them.  It  is  not  more  certain  that  the 
term  contains  much  more  than  the  ordinary  sense  of  know- 
ledge, than  it  is  certain  that  it  contains  it  also. 

When  St  Paul  declares,  in  1  Cor.  xiii.  that  he  shall  in  the 
future  world  "  know  as  he  is  known,"  and  that  such  know- 
ledge shall  be  to  the  present  as  the  knowledge  of  a  man  to 
that  of  a  child,  who  can  deny  that  in  the  difference  of  these 
degrees  of  knowledge  there  is  yet  a  similarity ;  that  between 
the  partial  knowledge  that  "  shall  vanish  away"  and  the 
perfect  knowledge  that  shall  abide  forever,  there  is  at  least 
so  much  of  sameness  that  any  faculty  that  is  busy  in  the 
former  may  be  expected  not  to  be  laid  aside  in  the  latter, 
which  is  not  the  opposite  of  it  but  the  completion?. ..But 
again  on  the  other  hand, — when  he  declares  that  there  are 
men  ever  "  learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth'''  (2  Tim.  iii.  7);  it  is  evident  he  must  mean 
something  much  more  than  a  knowledge  of  understanding, 
against  which  (in  a  case  so  simple  as  the  Christian  creed) 
no  such  hopeless  barrier  can  be  conceived.  When  St 
Peter  exhorts  the  Christian  Converts  to  "  grow  in  grace 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus,"  he  speaks  of  a 
j)rogressive, — a  growing  c\Qd.YnGss  in  this  spiritual  perception 
of  Christ,  wholly  inapplicable  to  any  ordinary  knowledge 
of  a  body  of  truths  relative  to  any  ordinary  person  or  thing; 
a  remark  which  may  also  (perhaps)  be  justly  applied  to 
that  prayer  of  St  Paul  for  his  Philippian  correspondents 
"  that  their  love  may  abound  yet  more  and  more  in  knowledge 
and  sensibility"  (i.  9).  Now,  you  know,  without  any  great 
expense  of  reflection,  that  there  is  this  capital  difference 


SERM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


183 


between  that  which  concerns  the  understanding  and  that 
which  concerns  the  affections ;  that  the  former  is  incapable 
of  any  increase  as  long  as  its  object, — truth, — remains 
strictly  the  same ; — while  of  the  latter  the  object  may  con- 
tinue unaltered  and  yet  the  degree  of  ferv^ency  indefinitely 
advance.  The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  knowledge 
here  contemplated  is  a  combination  of  intellect  and  affec- 
tion ;  in  short  that  it  is  that  of  which  St  Paul  elsewhere 
declares,  that  "God  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God."  (2  Cor.  iv.  6.) 
The  famous  expression  in  Eph.  iii.  19,  "  to  know  the  love  of 
Christ  ichich  passeth  knowledge,''^  has  often  been  cited  as  an 
instance  of  singular  obscurity ;  but  this  view  of  the  double 
significance  of  "  Knowledge'^  easily  resolves  the  difficulty. 
It  thus  appears  that  St  Paul  prays  that  his  beloved  at 
Ephesus  may  be  taught  "to  know  (in  the  high  and  pecu- 
liar sense  of  the  term)  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth 
knowledge"  (in  the  common  sense  of  a  mere  intellectual 
perception, — the  arrogant  knowledge,  yvwaij,  of  the  early 
"Gnostics.")  That  "love"  is  indeed  connected  with  this 
spiritual  apprehension  of  divine  things,  you  may  collect 
from  St  John  who  teaches  us  that  "  he  that  loveth  is  born 
of  God,  and  knoweth  QodP  (1  John  iv.  7.)  And,  to  pass 
from  the  pupils  to  the  Master,  with  what  an  energy  of  af- 
fection far  surpassing  the  perception  of  any  person  or  thing 
does  our  Lord  declare  that  He  "  knows  his  sheep  and  is 
known  of  his;" — and  with  what  melancholy  denunciation 
of  moral  guilt  does  he  attest  that  "  the  world  has  not 
^noW  his  "  righteous  Father,"  but  that  "  He  hath  known 
him."  Yes, — Blessed  Lord !  thou  hast  indeed  "  known 
him !"  In  the  mystic  sonship  of  a  past  eternity  thou  hast 
studied  and  loved  that  volume  of  all  perfections!  Thy 
shrine  was  the  bosom  of  the  Everlasting;  and  there  thou 
hast  read,  inscribed  upon  the  very  heart  of  God,  the  secrets 
of  that  righteous  administration  which  is  without  beginning 
and  without  end.    Nay, — what  after  all,  was  this  vision 


184 


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[SERM.  XII. 


but  reflection  ?  Was  not  this  union  to  the  celestial  Parent 
such,  that  to  contemplate  Ilim  thou  hadst  but  to  gaze, — oh 
mystery  transcendent ! — to  gaze  in  conscious  glory  upon 
thine  oun  all-holy  Essence  ? 

Brought  to  this  point,  we  can  perhaps  attempt  to  trace  to 
its  foundations  in  the  constitution  of  Nature,  the  great  law 
of  Christian  "  knowledge,"  in  that  highest  sense  of  the  term 
which  makes  it  a  loving,  adoring,  and  ever-growing  recog- 
nition of  the  inexhaustible  ])erfections  of  God..  .  .God  is 
the  centre  and  substance  of  moral  perfection, — of  goodness, 
of  wisdom,  of  justice: — He  is  "love,"  says  St  John;  He  is 
"only  wise,"  says  St  Paul;  "justice  is  the  habitation  of  thy 
throne,"  says  the  Psalmist.  Now  every  man  knows  in 
proportion  to  his  experience,  and  adores  in  proportion 
to  his  knowledge.  The  more,  therefore,  the  soul  of  man 
rises  in  the  experience  of  conscious  purity,  the  more  will 
his  adoring  knowledge  increase  of  Him  who  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  purity  ;  the  more  he  resembles  God  the  more  he  will 
contemplate  him ;  while  again  in  proportion  to  the  contem- 
platiou  the  resemblance  itself  will  increase,  according  to 
that  of  St  Paul  that  they  who  "  with  unveiled  face  be- 
hold the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image, 
from  glory  to  glory." . . .  That  the  reverse  is  similarly  true, 
that  without  inward  holiness  a  man  is  without  the  very  idea 
of  our  God,  it  is,  I  hope,  now  superfluous  to  insist  on.  A 
man  cannot  comj)ose  a  conception  of  which  he  never  had 
the  very  elements  !  As  he  who  has  no  idea  of  power  can- 
not conceive  omnipotence,  so  he  who  has  never  realized 
holiness  can  have  no  conception  of  that  God  who  is  "  of 
purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity."  He  talks  of  "  God," 
but  he  worships  an  idol. 

So  far,  then,  you  perceive  how  it  is  that  the  "  Knowledge 
of  God"  must  ever  be  a  property  rather  of  the  heart  than  of 
the  understanding,  and  also  that  it  is  a  grace  susceptible  of 
indefinite, — indeed  of  infinite,  increase.  The  application  of 
this  principle  to  the  declaration  in  the  text  requires  a  more 


SERM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


185 


minute,  but  still  a  very  simple  train  of  reflection.  Let  us 
devote  one  moment  more  to  pursue  the  process  by  which 
the  bright  conclusion  is  wrought  out. 

The  declaration  amounts  to  this, — that  if  any  man  make 
the  will  of  God  his  will,  he  shall  recognize  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Gospel.  Now  I  assume  that  the  man  in 
question  was  supposed  by  the  Divine  speaker  to  have 
already  attained  a  general  notion  of  God  as  a  being  of 
supreme  excellence ;  otherwise  it  is  most  certain  in  the  first 
place,  that  our  Lord  could  never  have  supposed  him  to 
attribute  the  Gospel  to  God  as  its  author,  the  moment  he 
came  to  hear  it; — and  in  the  second  place,  that  the  reward- 
ing illumination  to  which  Christ  referred  could  never  have 
been  destined  for  one  who  entertained  low  conceptions  of 
the  Deity, — who  conceived  of  him,  perhaps,  as  a  merciless 
and  unholy  Tyrant  of  the  universe.  Eesignation  is  a 
virtue  only  when  its  object  is  noble;  resignation  to  the 
Spirit  of  Evil  is  the  last  stage  of  sin ;  and  resignation  to 
God,  under  the  impression  of  His  being  the  patron  of 
unholiness,  is  no  better. 

The  sulyject  of  the  present  declaration  then,  already 
conceiving  God  to  be  (according  to  his  best  notions  of 
perfection)  pure  and  holy,  is  next  represented  as  resigning 
his  whole  will  to  the  will  of  that  Supreme  Governor.  Is 
it  not  evident  that  such  a  man,  the  humble  worshipper  of 
his  own  best  Idea  of  perfection  personified,  has  already 
attained  a  high  state  of  moral  sensibility  ?  on  that  "  honest 
and  good  heart"  (to  use  our  Lord's  own  words  in  the 
parable  of  the  Sowei')  the  seed  is  now  cast.  The  Gospel, 
— "  the  doctrine," — is  now  exhibited  to  him.  He  sees,  and 
he  adores ;  it  is  the  very  completion  of  all  he  had  but 
faintly  and  imperfectly  drawn  in  his  own  heart.  But 
being  from  his  state  of  humble  resignation  to  God  (a  state 
built  upon  the  belief  of  God's  entire  supremacy  in  the 
sphere  of  goodness)  already  habituated  to  refer  to  Him 

16* 


186 


The  Way  to 


[SERM.  XII. 


evcrytliing  morally  excellent  as  to  its  primal  source,  he 
naturally, — inevitably  connects  this  new  and  glorious  ap- 
parition of  truth  with  Him;  and  when  it  is  proposed  as 
indeed  the  genuine  offspring  of  the  divine  Mind,  joyfully 
accedes  to  the  claim,  recognizes  the  credentials,  and  em- 
braces the  messenger !  His  moral  honesty  assents  to 
Christianity;  his  hamble  resignation  attributes  it  to  heaven. 
And  TUUS  IT  is  that  "  if  any  man  Avill  to  do  the  will  of 
God,  he  shall  know  the  doctrine,  Avhether  it  be  of  God." 

But  more  than  this, — if  it  be  not  too  daring  to  conjec- 
ture. As  such  a  man  "grows  in  grace"  his  growing 
"  Knowledge"  (making  Christianity  yet  more  worthy  of 
God — )  and  his  growing  resignation  (ascribing  it  yet  more 
completely  to  God  in  proportion  to  its  proximate  excel- 
lence) draw  closer  still  the  link  that  unites  Christianity 
with  heaven, — the  Lawgiver  on  earth  with  the  Lawgiver 
above  : — until  at  length  they  approach, — they  merge, — 
they  are  lost  in  each  other ;  and  recognizing  in  Christ  him- 
self nothing  less  than  the  whole  circle  of  perfections  he  had 
been  wont  to  adore  on  the  throne  of  the  Universe,  he  sees 
in  the  Messenger, — The  very  God  he  proclaimed! 

Farther  than  this  I  will  not  ask  you  to  follow.  The 
Angels  who  veil  their  faces  before  the  throne,  may  take 
up  the  history  I  It  is  for  them  to  say,  whether  there  be 
stages  of  knowledge  that  rise  above  this  adoring  percep- 
tion of  Christ  as  the  true  Image  of  Divine  Holiness  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Heart.  It  is  for  them  to  tell  whether  their 
hearts  animated  by  a  yet  more  ardent  flame  of  love,  have 
lighted  their  apprehensions  to  a  yet  more  perfect  intelli- 
gence of  God ;  whether,  as  they  have  knelt  before  the 
throne  in  ecstasy  of  adoration,  a  ray  hath  ever  broken 
forth  from  the  mystic  cloud  that  encompasses  the  Godhead, 
revealing  secrets  of  the  Divine  Nature  beyond  the  appre- 
hension of  man,  and  inflaming  all  heaven  with  a  glow  of 


SEEM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


187 


wonder  and  delight  too  powerful  for  human  frames  to 
bear. ...But  no, — we  will  not  disturb  their  repose  of  joy 
with  our  questionings !  "We  can  afford  to  tarry, — can  we 
not  ?  The  time  shall  come  when  we  too  shall  "  sit  at  the 
feet"  of  God,  pupils  in  this  heavenly  school  of  happiness ! 
Yes !  the  time  shall  come  when  He  who  willed  to  be 
glorified  in  the  human  nature  will  set  us  on  a  level  with 
the  angelic.  "  Father,"  said  the  Divine  Sufferer,  as  He 
closed  that  dying  prayer  of  his  last  evening,  "  I  will  that 
they  also  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me  where  I 
am;  that  they  may  behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast 
given  me !"  (John  xvii.  24.)  Oh,  Brethren !  Spirits  for 
whom  he  died !  it  is  by  gazing  on  that  glory  here  ("  as 
through  a  glass,")  you  will  be  fitted  on  that  day  to  behold 
it  in  the  reality !  Study  his  perfection  !  Gaze  on  it  till  it 
fascinates  you  into  its  likeness!  Yea, — "be  perfect  as 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  is  perfect !"  Feel  and  know 
that  the  only  way  to  feel  and  know  Christ  is,  to  be  Christ 
like !  Be  assured  that  every  step  you  rise  in  inward  holi- 
ness you  are  obtaining  a  nearer  vision  of  that  God  who  is 
holiness  itself;  and  that  no  other  organ  than  purity  of 
heart  can  ever  behold  him.  Burst,  therefore,  the  shackles 
of  a  mere  dogmatical  religion,  a  theology  of  phrases  and 
periods!  Can  you  be  saved  by  a  proposition  in  Euclid? 
Believe  me  you  can  just  as  well  be  saved  by  a  proposition 
in  theology !  Creeds  are  valuable  only  when  our  hearts 
say  them  1  Love  God,  and  love  each  other  as  the  children 
of  God ;  and  the  God  of  love  will  teach  you  divinity ! 

What  are  the  simple  conclusions  from  the  whole?  To 
those,  whose  hearts  rich  in  Christian  experience,  and  whose 
understandings  patient  to  examine  the  doctrines  of  eternal 
life,  have  endured  to  follow  me  thus  far, — two  conclusions 
will,  I  trust,  manifest  themselves ;  both,  equally  and  forcibly 
applicable  to  our  immediate  business  of  this  day.  The 
ONE, — that  the  great  prize  of  Christian  enlightenment  is  to 


188 


The  Way  to 


[SERM.  XII. 


be  sought  by  an  humble  subjection  of  tlie  powers  of  the 
soul  to  the  master-hand  of  God, —  that  by  a  profound  sub- 
mission to  his  service  to  the  extent  of  your  light,  that  light 
will  be  enlarged;  and,  surely,  among  the  earliest  duties  of 
that  subject  will, — those  which  peculiarly  designate  a  heart 
fitted  to  recognize  the  lineaments  of  God  in  Christ, — is 
found  that  lovely  obligation  of  benevolence  to  which  I  now 

invite  you  The  other, — that  with  all  these  preparations 

of  the  heart,  it  is  nevertheless  certain  that  the  "  knowledge" 
of  God,  the  holy  intimacy  with  Divine  Perfection  which  I 
have  shown  you  the  Scriptures  understand  by  that  terra, — 
doth  necessarily  suppose  some  previous  acquaintance  (in 
the  ordinary  way  of  the  faculties)  with  the  great  truths  of 
the  Gospel  system : — that  is,  that  it  requires  in  more  or  less 
proportions, — the  very  teaching,  the  very  vigilance,  the 
very  training,  the  same  humble  ministry  of  the  bible-class 
and  the  school-room, — for  which  I  have  this  day  to  implore 
your  aid !  The  one  shows  you  what  your  feelings  ought 
to  be, — benevolent, — for,  you  at  least  well  know  that  "to  will 
performing  the  things  that  God  wills"  is  to  be  so; — the 
other,  with  as  powerful  an  appeal,  displays  the  proper 
OBJECTS  of  your  benevolence, — those,  who,  in  training  for 
the  great  science, — "to  know  him,  and  the  power  of  his 
resurrection," — arc  even  now  learning  the  necessary  condi- 
tions of  that  knowledge,  the  alphabet  of  the  Gospel,  in  the 

crowded  schools  of  your  parish  If  you  have  indeed 

inhaled  the  spirit  of  these  holy  hopes  and  expectations  of 
which  we  have  been  discoursing,  let  not,  I  beseech  you, 
that  spirit  in  a  moment  evaporate,  and  once  more  uncover 
as  it  passes  away,  the  narrow  niggard  avarice  of  this  world's 
daily  prudence !  Think  you  that  in  these  deeper  discus- 
sions of  the  knowledge  that  is  born  out  of  humility,  and 
fed  by  hourly  holiness,  I  was  for  a  moment  forgetting  the 
cause  of  these  children  of  poverty  and  of  the  Gospel  ? 
No, — but  I  was  also  remembering  you/    I  would  not  betray 


SERM.  XII.] 


Divine  Knowledge. 


189 


you  into  benevolence,  or  deceive  you  into  a  spurious  and 
momentary  charity.  I  would  treat  you  as  rational,  im- 
mortal, thinking,  beings :  I  would  appeal  to  your  reason  in 
its  calmness,  and  I  trust  in  God  you  will  show  this  day, 
that  you  are  not  unworthy  of  being  so  appealed  to! 


SERMON  XIII. 


THE  ASCENSION. 

(The  Ascension  Day.) 

While  they  beheld,  he  was  taken  up;  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their 
sight. — Acts  i.  9. 

In  Christ  Jesus  all  possible  states  and  conditions  of 
sinless  being  are  hallowed.  Poverty  and  contempt  are 
sanctified,  for  Christ  preferred  them.  Torture  and  utter- 
most agony  are  sacred,  for  Christ  endured  them.  The  grave 
is  a  lioly  thing,  for  lie  rested  there.  Glory  and  supreme 
Triumph  are  resplendent  with  a  light  such  as  earth  never 
gave  them,  for  He  has  assumed  them  as  Ilis  own.  He  has 
travelled  through  all  varieties  of  being,  and  has  left  in  them 
all  the  impress  of  Himself.  So  that,  whereas  the  whole  life 
of  man  was  a  thing  defiled  and  unholy,  it  is  now  and  for 
ever  consecrated  as  a  shrine  or  temple  of  the  God  who  hath 
dwelt  there.  "  He  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels, 
but  the  seed  of  Abraham."  The  Angels  have  the  holiness 
of  creation;  redeemed  humanity  has  the  holiness  of  occu- 
pancy and  indwelling.  Those  have  come  from  the  hand  of 
God,  and  are  as  they  came, — blessed;  these  have  carried 
God  within  them  in  the  Divine  Representative  of  the  race. 
The  Manhood  has  borne  the  weight  of  Deity  undestroyed, 
— it  has  held  within  it  the  lightnings  of  heaven  and  not 
perished.    As  it  is  the  mightiest  boast  of  our  race  that  we 


SERM.  XIII.] 


The  Ascension. 


191 


have  thus  been  inhabited  by  a  Divine  presence;  so  it  is  our 
loftiest  office  to  sympathize  with  all  the  high  destinies  of 
that  Person  who  thus  incorporated  us  with  infinity,  who 
introduced  us  into  the  very  sphere  of  supreme  Deity,  and 
who  carries  our  fortunes  with  Him  when  He  traverses  the 
adoring  heavens,  and,  while  millions  of  worshipping  seraphs 
are  prostrate  as  He  passes,  teaches  even  them  to  adore  in 
Him  a  Man  no  less  truly  than  a  God ! 

Those,  then,  are  not  to  be  heard  who  would  suggest  to 
us  that  Man  was  higher  and  happier  in  his  unfallen  state 
than  he  can  ever  hope  to  be;  and  who  perpetually  lament 
as  an  incurable  woe  the  ancient  exile  from  Eden,  It  is  true 
that  the  day  when  "  the  man  was  driven  out"  was  the  birth- 
day of  affliction  to  the  resolute  enemies  of  God;  to  such  it 
was  the  beginning  of  sorrows,  the  twilight  of  that  darkness 
whose  midnight  is  not  even  yet  come.  But  to  Man  as  a 
race, — to  the  regenerate  as  individuals, — that  love  of  gloom 
was  pregnant  with  glory.  Had  there  been  no  Fate  there 
had  been  no  Redemption ;  had  there  been  no  Redemption, 
humanity  were  the  creature  of  God,  but  it  could  not  have 
been  the  contained  of  God.  Never  could  it  have  filled  so 
wondrous  a  page  in  the  story  of  the  universe ;  never  could 
it  have  thrilled  the  angels  with  "  desire  to  look  into"  the 
marvels  of  the  people  of  dust!  We  might  have  been  the 
children  of  a  divine  Father,  (are  the  saints  less  so  now  ?), 
but  we  never  could  have  pointed  to  a  brother  on  the  Throne 
of  heaven!  We  never  could  have  known  a  deeper  interest 
in  all  the  doings  of  the  Empire  of  God  than  a  general 
approbation  of  the  workings  of  Holiness  might  bring. 
We  could  scarcely  have  ventured  to  assume  an  anxiety 
about  the  decrees  of  heaven,  confident,  and  calmly  confi- 
dent, in  their  wisdom, —  and,  perhaps,  judging  it  a  pre- 
sumptuous intrusion  to  attempt  farther  inquiry ; — we  could 
not  have  felt,  as  we  do  now,  that  we  are  inseparably  linked 
with  all  that  is  loftiest  in  the  economy  of  the  universe;  that 
there  can  be  nothing  effected  or  undertaken  in  which  we 


192 


The  Ascension. 


[SERM.  XIII. 


are  not  personally  interested,  as  effected  or  undertaken  by 
Him,  who,  in  one  divine  manifestation  of  his  nature,  has 
been  pleased  to  bind  us  for  ever  to  Uimself. 

It  is  true,  that,  in  answer  to  all  these  cheering  and  ele- 
vating convictions,  there  are  those  who  would  insinuate 
that  we  are  too  diminutive  a  speck  in  the  array  of  worlds, 
thus  to  claim,  in  the  ascension  of  God  into  the  highest 
heavens,  the  union  of  our  interests  with  the  counsels  of 
Deity: — that  it  is  an  unwarrantable  arrogance  to  claim  an 
exclusive  right  to  the  special  favor  of  this  universal  God. 
But  that  which  we  assert, — the  glorification  of  our  nature 
in  the  glorification  of  Christ, — rests  upon  no  such  principle; 
it  would  not  be  diminished  though  shared  with  millions! 
The  very  immensity  of  divine  power,  providence,  and  love, 
which  alone  forms  a  ground  for  the  objection,  suggests  at 
once  its  solution. 

How  far  the  Redeemer  has  multiplied  Himself  in  the 
work  of  redemption,  I  know  not;  through  how  many 
desolate  worlds  he  has  sent  a  message  of  life,  I  know  not. 
Whether  the  restored  sinners  of  other  orbs  may  also  claim 
their  own  in  that  infinite  essence,  and  talk  of  their  Bethle- 
heras  and  their  Calvaries,  their  Nativities  and  their  Ascen- 
sions, it  would  be  vain  to  conjecture;  and  it  cannot  in  one 
jot  alter  the  reality  of  our  eternal  union  with  Him.  For 
myself,  I  own  no  jealousies  in  the  common  happiness  of 
races  and  of  worlds.  I  believe  the  heart  that  beat  at  Geth- 
semane  large  enough  to  hold  a  universe  in  its  love;  and  I 
should  no  more  envy  the  redeemed  of  a  distant  planet  than 
the  redeemed  of  a  distant  continent.  It  is  the  prerogative 
of  a  divine  affection  that  it  can  multiply  through  new 
thousands  without  abating  to  each;  like  the  light  of  the  Sun 
which  diminishes  not  to  surrounding  objects  because  you 
open  to  it  the  windows  of  a  dark  chamber  till  then  unvisited 
by  its  radiance.  I  should  rejoice  to  see  that  brow  which 
bled  beneath  the  thorns,  crowned  with  the  victories  of  ten 
thousand  worlds!    I  should  feel  that  it  was  with,  higher 


SERM.  XIII.] 


The  Ascension. 


193 


exultation  and  more  assumed  confidence  I  could  answer  to 
the  cold  question  of  tlae  doubter,  "What  is  thy  beloved 
more  than  another  beloved?"  that  he  was  indeed,  "the 
chiefest  among  ten  thousand."  (Song  v.  9,  10.)  Nor  should 
I  approach  him  with  a  more  total  and  unmingled  affection, 
•with  a  more  thorough  devotedness,  or  a  more  exclusive 
confidence  that  I,  the  meanest  of  his  creatures,  enjoyed  the 
fulness  of  his  love,  in  the  midst  of  this  host  of  his  adorers, — 
or  with  less  tenderness  utter  the  exquisite  expostx;lation  of 
the  repentant  apostle,  "Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things!"  and 
even  in  the  midst  of  these  innumerable  worshippers  from 
every  region  of  creation,  "  thou  knowest  that  /  love  thee !" 

These  speculations  as  to  the  relation  of  an  incarnate  God 
to  the  other  innumerable  regions  of  the  universe,  need, 
therefore,  give  us  no  real  alarm.  In  the  present  state  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  immensity  of  creation,  it  is  almost 
impossible  but  they  must  arise ; — and  more  especially  in 
reflecting  on  the  great  mystery  we  celebrate  to-day — a 
mystery  which  obliges  us  to  contemplate  Christ  as  at  once 
the  enthroned  Monarch  of  the  whole  infinity  of  being — of 
suns  and  systems  that  are  scattered  in  millions  along  the 
paths  of  space  "  as  the  sand  which  is  by  the  sea-shore,  in- 
numerable,"— and  at  the  same  time  a  Man,  and  bound  by 
ties  intimate  and  everlasting  to  one  little  corner  of  the 
universe,  one  little  island  in  the  ocean  of  immensity,  one 
little  speck,  small  in  its  own  system  and  invisible  beyond 
it.  We  can  well  afford  to  admit  Ilim  not  only  by  right  of 
creation  the  natural,  but  even  right  of  Redemption,  the 
spiritual  King  of  this  multitude  of  peopled  worlds.  Our 
property  in  the  affections  of  this  infinite  heart  is  in  no 
respect  limited  by  any  supposition  of  this  kind. 

Whatever  be  the  boundlessness  of  the  restorative  ener- 
gies of  Christ,  whatever  the  extent  of  that  agency  which 
the  Second  Person  of  the  Trinity  is  qualified  and  commis- 
sioned to  exert, — with  equal  earnestness  will  the  man  of 
spiritualized  reason  and  affections  dwell  upon  every  element 

VOL.  II.— 17 


194  The  Ascension.  [SERM.  XIII. 

of  Ilis  story.  Enough  it  is  that  the  Infinite  and  Eternal 
God  is  on  the  stage  of  this  earth  manifested  as  our  Redeem- 
er; that,  in  the  consummation  of  that  redemption,  He  has 
assumed  our  nature  into  His  Own,  and  thus  identified  xis 
with  all  his  acts, — enough  is  this,  to  fix  us  with  anxiety 
upon  all  He  has  done,  and  still  does.  I  believe  it  to  be 
the  characteristic  of  divine  love,  that  it  is  unaccompanied 
with  that  jealousy  which  is  consequent  on  exclusiveness, 
and  which  assuredly  works  its  temporary  purpose  upon 
earth,  but  has  no  place, — because  no  utility, — in  the  higher 
system.  Even  in  the  Christian  love  of  this  world  I  see  the 
principle  manifested  in  the  absence  of  narrow-minded  and 
partial  views,  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  realized  in  each 
believing  soul.  And  hence,  I  think  it  of  the  very  essence 
of  the  divine  affection,  that  it  should  rejoice, — not  in  sepa- 
ration and  individuality,  not  in  proportion  as  the  wor- 
shipper is  a  "first  object"  with  the  worshipped, — but  in 
proportion  as  happiness  is  multiplied,  as  the  adorer  sees 
his  own  feelings  reflected  in  the  mirrors  of  surrounding 
hearts.  Thus  it  is  that  Christ,  while  to  us  he  is  eminently 
our  Christ,  may  receive  the  adoration  of  innumerable  tribes 
of  sentient  beings,  and  be  our  beloved,  in  proportion  as  He 
is  the  beloved  of  all  the  redeemed  of  all  spheres.  Thus  it 
is,  that  ice  can  rejoice  as  He  bore  our  nature  into  heaven, 
not  the  less,  yea,  much  more  and  more  intensely,  because 
He  may  have  diffused  an  equal  felicity  over  the  immensity 
of  the  rational  universe.  Thus  it  is  that  we  may  admit  that 
the  Son  of  God, — the  Eternal  offspring  of  an  Eternal, — has 
not  limited  his  quickening  agency  to  our  world  ;  and  yet, 
knowing  that  we  for  ever  are  his,  that  He  bears  our  nature, 
will  judge  us,  feels  with  us  and  for  us,  is  Son  of  Man  no 
less  than  Son  of  God, — thus  it  is,  that  we  can  sympathize 
with  every  event  of  his  history, — with  his  birth  as  toe  are 
born,  his  growth  as  ice  grow  in  mind  and  body,  his  trials 
as  we  are  tried,  his  death  as  we  die,  his  resurrection  as  we 
are  to  rise,  his  ascension, — as  we  also  are  to  be  "  caught 


SERM.  XIII.] 


The  Ascension. 


195 


up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air."  It  is  said  that  the  apostles 
"  looked  steadfastly  towards  heaven  as  he  went  up," — 
methinks  it  is  so  that  we  also,  as  we  read  or  hear  this 
wondrous  event,  should  fix  eye  and  heart  upon  that  heaven 
which  He, — the  firstborn, — has  pre  occupied,  that  we  should 
feel  that  in  Him  a  portion  of  ourselves  has  departed  thither, 
a  sinless  type  of  humanity,  which  keeps  its  place  for  the 
rest ;  and  that  our  heart,  in  Christ,  being  already  there,  all 
else  should  struggle,  with  holy  impatience,  to  follow. 

The  Son  of  God  ascended  into  heaven  invested  with  a 
human  body.  This  is  the  great  fact  of  the  day  and  of  the 
text ;  this  is  the  first  heavenly  stage  of  Christ's  redeeming 
work.  That  "  plant  of  renown"  which  (if  the  thought  be 
not  too  fanciful  for  the  theme)  had  first  to  fade  and  wither 
on  the  day  of  suffering,  which  was  sown  in  the  grave,  which, 
rose  above  earth  in  the  Resurrection, — is  glorious  in  "  bright 
consummate  flower"  in  the  Ascension,  as  it  is  in  fruit  in 
the  day  of  gifts  and  blessings, — "  fruits  of  the  Spirit ;"  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  But  while  you  maintain  the  truth  of  the 
Manhood,  remember  that  his  Divinity  is  boundless  as  ever; 
beyond  all  restriction  as  beyond  all  conception.  They  are 
much  mistaken  who  imagine  that  we  would  confine  that 
being  beyond  all  beings,  when  we  pronounce  that  it 
assumed, .and  still  preserves,  attached  to  its  divine  Sub- 
stance, a  human  frame.  There  is  no  incompatibility  be- 
tween the  two;  no  inconsistence  between  an  essence  of 
infinite  power  and  a  material  structure ;  no  contradiction 
between  a  Being  who  as  God  is  everywhere,  and  as  Man  is 
subject  to  the  usual  restrictions  of  humanity,... The  Body 
with  which  Christ  ascended  possessed  unquestionably 
peculiar  privileges ;  such  as  the  spiritual  body  of  man  is 
hereafter  to  possess.  But  that  it  was  the  same  body  as  had 
walked  on  earth  in  sorrow  and  toil,  Christ  Himself  had 
earnestly  impressed  on  his  witnesses.  Whether  subsequent 
changes  may  not  have  still  further  altered  his  frame  to  suit 
its  new  abode,  we  have  no  certain  means  of  determining. 


196 


The  Ascension. 


[SERM.  XIII. 


But,  while  yet  among  us,  lie  had  evinced  by  the  most 
"infallible  proofs,"  that  the  glorified  body  was  identical 
with  the  suffering  body, — that  the  signs  of  suffering  were 
immortally  impressed  upon  the  impassible  frame, — and 
consequently  that  He  carried  with  him  into  heaven  our 
nature,  the  pledge  of  our  futurity, — and  not  merely  our 
nature,  but  our  nature  crucified, — such  a  nature,  as,  bearing 
with  it  the  ineffaceable  impress  of  his  own  divine  suffer- 
ings, might  at  once  introduce  us  into  heaven  by  mercy,  and 

secure  us  there  by  justice  Of  all,  then,  which  I  have 

endeavored  to  impress,  this  is  the  sum ;  that  this  ascension 
of  Christ  is  the  great  pledge  and  proof  of  our  eternal  state ; 
that  our  nature  is  for  ever  identified  with  his,  so  that  as 
long  as  He  is  Man,  we  must  be  happy,  as  one  with  Hivi  ; 
that  the  great  value  of  this  transcendent  fact,  is,  not  merely 
that  it  is  an  example  of  our  future  ascension,  but  that  it  is 
our  ascension  begun — we  in  Him  having  risen  to  heaven, 
we  in  Him  being  at  this  time  present  before  God,  we  in 
Him  being  united  with  the  eternal  plans  and  procedures  of 
Heaven,  so  that  we  are  for  ever  blended  with  Christ, — his 
property — his  purchased  possession, — the  very  members  of 
his  body ; — insomuch  that  they  who  succor  His  suffering 
disciples  in  this  world  shall  be  pronounced  to  succor  Him- 
self, and  that  Paul  who  persecuted  the  church  was  said  by 
the  Church's  Head,  to  have  persecuted  "Christ."  And 
further,  that,  whatever  similar  benefits  the  same  Divine 
Person,  may,  in  the  depths  of  past  eternity,  have  wrought 
for  others,  our  claim  is  in  no  degree  diminished;  infinite 
power  and  love  may  have  extended  itself  in  innumerable 
manifestations, — but  we  only  know  it  redeemed  us,  and  we 
are  content  to  know  this  I 

That  there  might  be  no  shadow  of  doubt  as  to  the  per- 
manence of  Christ's  manhood  after  the  Ascension — the 
manhood  in  which,  "  because  He  is  the  Son  of  i/an,"  He 
shall  come  in  judgment, — He  purposely  gave  His  followers 


SERM.  XIII.]  The  Ascension.  197 

mysterious  glimpses  of  His  own.  state  as  it  subsists  in  the 
eternal  world. 

We  know  that — subsequent  to  his  disappearance  from 
Olivet — in  the  same  nature  (so  as  to  be  at  once  recognized) 
Stephen  beheld  him  "  standing  (in  readiness  to  assist)  at  the 
right  hand  of  God."  We  know  that  Paul  declares  that  he 
"  saw  the  Lord,"  and  places  his  dignity  of  apostleship  upon 
this  very  basis.  We  know  that  John  beheld  "  a  Lamb  as 
it  had  been  slain"  before  whom  that  new  song  was  sung, — 
*'  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation," — and, 
"  worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and 
riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory, 
and  blessing."  So  completely  did  Christ  bear  into  heaven 
the  badges  of  his  sacrifical  work  on  earth.  As  his  last  step 
on  earth  was  upon  that  mount  which  had  witnessed  his 
agonies  in.  the  garden,  so  even  beyond  the  clouds  did  He 
bear  us,  and  our  sorrows,  and  their  remedy.  The  very 
imprint  of  suffering  upon  hand  and  side  is  still  visible  to 
all  heaven,  and  bids  many  an  astonished  angel  cry  aloud 
(as  the  Jews  of  old)  "  Behold  how  he  loved  them  1" 

And  if  this  be  so, — if  Christ  Jesus  has  thus  borne  with 
Him  our  nature  into  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  Heaven,  if  he 
has  not  hesitated  to  wear  the  form  that  Adam  wore,  in  that 
Holy  of  Holies  where  angels  tremble  as  they  gaze, — what 
ought  to  be  our  feelings,  as  we  reflect  upon  this  astonishing 
transit  ?  How  ought  we  to  be  animated,  as  wc  remember 
that  a  body,  spiritual  indeed,  but  yet  tangible  and  visible, — 
a  nature  immaculate  indeed,  but  yet  human  and  oiirs, — has 
been  uplifted  by  the  energy  of  indwelling  Godhead,  and 
set  in  the  centre  of  the  Paradise  of  God  ?  If  this  fact  be 
believed,  it  is  impossible  it  can  leave  us  as  it  found  us.  It 
is  a  thing  so  surpassing  in  its  importance,  that  no  human 
spirit  can  receive  it,  and  be  unmoved.  To  hear  this  story 
of  a  common  acquaintance,  and  to  hear  it  on  grounds  that 
left  its  truth  unquestionable,  would  occupy  our  every 

17'- 


198 


The  Ascension.  [serm.  xiii. 


thought  for  hours,  for  days,  with  minds  more  reflective  for  a 
far  longer  period.  But  to  know  that  it  has  happened  mainly 
with  a  view  to  our  own  future  exaltation ;  that  it  is  but  the 
prologue  of  a  Drama  which  is  to  take  in  the  whole  blessed 
company  of  the  redeemed ;  that  it  is  a  preparatory  measure 
which  is  to  introduce  an  endless  procession  of  future 
entrances  like  itself, — saint  after  saint  rising  into  the  glory 
thus  secured  by  this  Captain  of  Salvation,  and  each  met  at 
the  threshold  by  Ilim  who  thus  has  scaled  the  skies  that 
lie  might  be  there  before  us ! — to  know  this,  and  to  believe 
it,  is  to  awake  to  emotions  that  annihilate  earth,  and  open 
heaven  already  to  the  exulting  soul  I  Think,  then  for  a 
moment,  what  are  the  feelings  that  the  follower  of  the  Lamb 
should  own,  when  he  ponders  this  passage  of  his  Leader  into 
the  highest  heavens,  — turn  to  your  own  hearts  and  ask, — are 
such  feelings  there  ? 

If  Christ  ascended  to  obtain  "  gifts" — spiritual  blessings 
— for  his  people  (a  purpose  everywhere  expressed  both  by 
himself  and  his  prophetic  heralds,)  who  cannot  see  that  at 
least  one  attitude  of  the  believing  soul  is  to  be  found  in 
earnest  supplication  for  their  bestowal,  or  grateful  welcome 
of  their  presence  in  the  heart  ?  If,  when  he  sprinkled  thfe 
mercy-seat  of  the  Eternal  Sanctuary  with  his  own  blood, 
when  the  "  It  is  finished"  of  Calvary  was  once  more  uttered 
in  presence  of  the  accepting  Father,  and  all  the  prelimi- 
naries of  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  were  thus  completed, 
— if  then  He  was  entitled  to  take,  and  took,  from  the 
treasury  of  heaven  its  choicest  graces,  and  held  them  liber- 
ally forth  for  all  who  sought  them, — is  it  not  incredible, 
that,  with  the  knowledge  of  such  things,  a  cold  inactive 
heart  should  still  insult  God  by  indifierence  to  his  proffered 
blessings?  Christ  has  risen  bodily  into  Heaven  that  He 
may  be  spiritually  present  in  the  earthly  heaven  of  the 
Church;  the  bodily  ascension  and  the  spiritual  indwelling 
are  two  aspects  of  the  same  act. 

There  is  among  us,  ever  since  that  wondrous  day,  a  power 


SERM.  XIII.]  The  Ascension. 


199 


beyond  all  powers, — a  strengtli  to  nerve  the  feeble  heart, 
an  unction  to  anoint  the  sightless  eye,  an  energy  to  re- 
vivify the  spiritually  dead.  It  is  around  us  as  "the  wind 
that  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  but  not  capriciously  dealt ; 
for  prayer  can  charm  that  invisible  essence  into  every  soul 
that  believeth.  There  is  a  secret,  subtle,  unseen  Power — 
mightier  than  all  that  fabling  romance  ever  dreamed  of  its 
magic — it  is  near  us  if  we  will  but  know  it,  within  us  if 
we  will  but  call  it, — this  is  the  heritage  of  the  believing 
world  ever  since  that  day  of  Olivet.  But  oh,  i'ather  of 
Mercy !  how  despised  is  thy  celestial  gift !  Oh  Son  of  glory ! 
how  neglected  is  the  prize  of  thy  conquest !  There  is  no 
dream  too  unsubstantial  to  be  preferred  to  this  reality :  no 
lie  too  glaring  to  be  preferred  to  this  everlasting  truth !  It 
is  written  of  David  (2  Sam.  vi.)  that  when  he  had  brought 
the  ark  of  the  covenant  to  its  home — that  ark  which  was 
in  all  its  particulars  a  manifest  type  of  the  Messiah,  and 
when  he  had  sung  that  Psalm  which  St  Paul  has  applied 
to  the  ascension  of  Christ  into  heaven — he  bestowed  his 
gifts — "  to  the  whole  multitude,"  says  the  sacred  writer — ■ 
"  to  every  one  a  cake  of  bread,  and  a  piece  of  flesh,  and  a 
flagon  of  wine."  Gifts  such  as  these  were  received  with 
joy ;  but  their  divine  antitypes  are  spurned  as  worthless. 
The  mystical  David  from  his  own  high  home  dispenses  his 
own  flesh  for  the  life  of  the  world,  and  that  spiritual  bread 
which  he  that  hungers  after  righteousness  shall  eat  of  and 
be  satisfied,  and  that  "fruit  of  the  vine"  which  is  even  now 
to  be  drunk  in  the  earthly  "  kingdom  of  the  Father."  But 
few  are  they  that  hear  his  invitation, — and  the  promise  of 
joy  and  peace  is  as  carelessly  spurned  as  if  the  world  were 
not  groaning  under  sorrow  and  disquiet.  A  message  of 
happiness  such  as  meets  every  want,  such  as  supplies  every 
yearning  of  the  heart  of  man, — such  as  moves  all  his 
natural  affections  by  natural  motives,  and  strengthens,  and 
enlightens,  and  directs,  the  whole  by  supernatural  assist- 
ance,— this  is  received  with  a  coldness  which  would  bo 


200  The  Ascension.  [serm.  xiii. 


unjustifiable,  were  we  in  Paradise  itself,  and  already  en- 
compassed with  all,  and  more  than,  such  a  message  could 
promise  I 

I  know  how  all  these  representations  are  ordinarily 
met : — and  in  what  tone  the  men  of  this  world  are  wont 
to  receive  this  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  blessings  won  for 
the  souls  of  believing  men  by  the  sacrifice'  of  Christ,  and 
dispensed  in  consequence  of  his  ascension  to  glory, — let 
me  rather  say, — manifesting  themselves  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  as  the  natural  and  necessary  result  of  that  spiritual 
Presence  which  is  one  with  the  Ascension.  Some,  indeed, 
evade  our  pressing  instances,  by  the  convenient  theology 
which  would  confine  this  whole  wondrous  benefit  to  the 
Apostles  themselves  and  their  immediate  followers ;  and 
which  pronounces,  that  beyond  the  special  purposes  of  that 
age  such  assistances  were  neither  promised  nor  required. 
An  assertion  so  directly  contrary  to  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
New  Testament,  to  the  positive  declarations  and  the  im- 
plied assumptions  of  all  its  writers,  that  no  charity  can 
designate  that  as  less  than  wilful  infidelity  which  professes 
to  uphold  it.  Whether  viewed  upon  grounds  of  natural 
propriety  or  of  inspired  promise,  the  same  conclusion  forces 
itself  forward, — that  "  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit"  was 
not  more  for  that  age  than  for  every  age.  The  whole  bright 
circle  of  the  Christian  graces  are  ascribed  to  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit  sent  from  the  right  hand  of  God  by  Christ  who  ever- 
more dwells  there ; — and  are  ihej/  less  required  now  than 
they  ever  were  ?  The  "  fruit  of  the  Spirit"  may  indeed 
once  have  been  the  recall  of  the  dying  from  the  gates  of 
death,  of  the  lame  from  his  motionless  misery,  of  the  blind 
from  darkness.  We  know  that  the  apostles  "  spake  with 
other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance :"  that 
"  God  bare  them  witness  both  with  signs  and  wonders  and 
with  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Uoly  Ghost  according 
to  his  own  will." — But  we  know  also, — that  "the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  is  in  all  goodness,  righteousness  and  truth"  (Eph, 


SERM.  XIII.] 


The  Ascension. 


20t 


V.  9).  We  know  that  it  is  "  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering, 
gentleness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance."  We  know  that 
"  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy 
Ghost;" — tjiat  men  are  "justified  by  the  Spirit  of  their 
God,"  and  by  Him  "  sealed  to  the  day  of  redemption ;" 
that  men  are  "  saved  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and 
renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;" — that  the  entrance  into  tlie 
divine  Kingdom  is  suspended  upon  a  birth  "  of  water  and 
the  Spirit" — yea,  tliat  the  pervading  influence  of  the  same 
awful  Power  so  extends  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
the  story  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  that  "no  man  can" 
even  "  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Things  take  their  titles  from  their  essential  characters,  and 
the  relii^rion  of  Christ  is  declared  to  be  "  the  ministration 

O 

of  the  Spirit."  If  holiness  be  the  garb  of  a  believing  soul, 
if  the  lapse  of  centuries  leave  (on  the  one  hand)  this  requi- 
site unaltered,  (on  the  other)  the  power  and  mercy  of  God 
undiminished, — so  that  the  want  remains  and  the  supply 
remains, — then  was  the  coronation-largess  of  the  Son  of 
God  enthroned  in  heaven,  no  temporary  gift  meant  to 
astonish  a  single  generation,  or  two,  or  three  generations, 
and  then  leave  the  world  in  darkness  the  deeper  for  that 
momentary  light,  "  He  gave  gifts  to  men "  worthy  of 
himself,  and  as  himself  omnipotent  and  eternal!  He  sent 
forth  a  Spirit,  which  should  be  His  vicegerent  in  the 
Church ;  and  as  long  as  the  Sovereign  reigns  in  Heaven, 
his  spiritual  viceroy  reigns  in  human  souls.  They  are 
correspondent  and  correlative  one  to  the  other.  If  I  go  not 
away,  said  the  Saviour  before  he  ascended, — the  Spirit 
cannot  come; — if  he  be  away,  then,  the  Spirit  is  in  the 
Church ;  the  absence  of  the  one  is.  the  presence  of  the 
other : — let  me  rather  say  that  there  is  no  absence,  no  dis- 
tance, no  departure,  no  separation  !  Christ  Himself  is  one 
with  His  own  Spirit,  and  with  him  templed  in  the  heart  of 
his  mystic  body.  As  Paul  declared  of  himself,  we  "know 
him  no  longer  after  the  flesh," — wc  know  him  not  by 


202 


The  Ascension,  [serm.  xiii. 


sensible  perception  or  miraculous  vision, — but  by  a  deeper, 
a  better,  an  inward  and  abiding  sense.  We  are  habituated, 
from  tlie  natural  influences  of  the  body,  to  think  that 
the  knowledge  of  sight  or  hearing  is  the  knowledge  of  all 
others  surest,  distinctest,  and  best :  but  an  object  to  he  seen 
and  heard  must  be  at  a  distance  from  eye  and  ear.  Better 
far  is  that  inward  apprehension  in  which  knowledge  and 
possession  are  one,  which  makes  us  know  Christ  in  giving 
us  Christ,  and  allows  us  to  speak  of  Him  not  as  an  object 
of  distant  perception  but  of  internal  consciousness.  ^^Tomh 
me  not,"  said  Jesus  after  his  resurrection,  to  weeping  and 
astonished  Mary;  "/or  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my 
Father;"  and,  among  all  the  conjectures  which  have  been 
expended  upon  the  significance  of  that  singular  prohibi- 
tion,— is  it  impossible  that  he  might  have  alluded  to  this 
spiritual  contact  which  was  to  be  the  consequence  of  his 
ascension, — to  this  inward  grasp  which  the  abiding  of  his 
Spirit  was  to  allow, — so  that  those  who  of  old  had  seen 
and  heard  the  Lord,  were  thenceforth  to  know  Him  as  it 
were  by  touch  and  feeling,  by  direct  and  palpable  appre- 
hension. Nor  this  alone.  There  is  a  sense  even  more  in- 
ward than  touch  itself,  though  accompanied  by  it, — the 
sense  of  taste.  I  surely  need  not  remind  you,  that  in  the 
most  determinate  of  all  Christ's  expositions  of  the  mode  by 
which  he  was  to  perpetuate  his  presence  in  the  Church, 
entering  secretly  into  each  believing  heart  and  there  abid- 
ing, the  perceptions  of  this  very  sense  are  eminently 
employed.  We  are  to  "  eat  of  his  flesh  and  drink  of 
his  blood:"  our  whole  spiritual  life  is  to  be  preserved 
only  by  doing  so.  Here  then  is  the  last  perfection  of 
the  inward  presence,,  and  thence  the  inward  knowledge 
of  Christ.  Himself  incorporated  with  us  as  our  spiritual 
nutriment,  he  is  present  to  us  as  our  spiritual  object. 
Though  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  he  is  not  the  less  with 
us,  for  God  himself  is  with  us.  "  Ye  are  the  temple  of 
God."    He  has  ascended  "above  the  highest  heavens,"  but 


SERM.  XIII.] 


Tlie  Ascension. 


203 


he  has  bowed  the  highest  heavens  to  us.  "If  any  man 
hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him, 
and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me."  And  indeed  it 
is  remarkable  how,  by  every  form  of  phrase,  the  sacred 
writers  labor  to  express  the  total  identification  of  the  inte- 
rests of  the  Church  and  its  Founder,  and  the  perpetuated 
indwelling  of  Christ  through  the  Spirit,  subsequently  to 
his  local  ascension  to  the  immediate  presence  of  the  Father. 
They  seem  to  represent  a  sort  of  reciprocal  action  between 
the  heart  and  its  Lord.  Sometimes  ive  ascend  into  the 
abode  of  Christ,  and  our  life  is  said  to  be  "hid  with  Christ 
in  God :" — sometimes  he  descends  to  us,  and  "  we  live,  yet 
not  we,  but  Christ  liveth  in  us."  Sometimes  we  are  "raised 
up  together,  and  made  to  sit  together  in  heavenly  places 
in  Christ  Jesus ;"  sometimes  he  is  in  us  "  if  we  be  not  repro- 
bates." What  other  than  this  mysterious  communion  was 
it  which  the  old  patriarch  saw  at  Bethel,  when  "  he  dream- 
ed, and  behold  a  ladder  set  up  on  the  earth,  and  the  top  of 
it  reached  to  heaven ;  and  behold,  the  angels  of  God  as- 
cending and  descending  on  it," — and  when  he  rightly 
deemed  that  the  place  indeed  was  "dreadful,"  but  yet  that 
it  was  "  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  the  gate  of 
heaven  !  " 

That  gate  is  now  open  and  for  ever !  It  is  open  ever 
since  the  day  when  the  choir  of  angels  sung,  as  the  victor 
rose  to  receive  his  crown, — "Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye 
gates;  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and  the 
King  of  Glory  shall  come  in !"  He, — ascending  "  into 
the  hill  of  the  Lord," — "  shall  receive  the  blessing  from 
the  Lord,  and  righteousness  from  the  God  of  his  salva- 
tion." That  gate  is  open  now,  and  all  the  powers  of  hell 
and  darkness  cannot  close  it  upon  those  who  close  it  not 
on  themselves !  The  forerunner  is  gone  on,  "  to  prepare 
the  place"  for  which  nothing  can  un-prepare  us,  but  our 
own  resolute  wilfulness '....Kemember  the  awful  words  of 
the  "  men  in  white  apparel"  that  stood  upon  the  mount, 


204 


The  Ascension. 


[SERM.  xiir. 


as  the  Apostles  gazed  after  the  disappearing  form  of  their 
Lord, — "  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him 
go  into  heaven."  We  stand  midway  between  the  two 
awful  manifestations, — the  ascent  to  glory  and  the  descent 
to  judgment.  Between  the  two  epochs  lies  the  history  of 
the  world!  There  are  those, — and  they  arc  men  of  deep 
thought  in  many  instances, — who  believe  that  the  second 
of  these  great  events  is  not  so  far  distant  as  the  unbeliev- 
ing world  would  gladly  deem: — who  think  that  "the  thief 
in  the  night"  is  already  on  his  way,  that  "  the  good  man 
of  the  house"  had  better  set  his  watch  and  bar  his  doors. 
I  enter  not  now  into  such  calculations.  Such  expectations 
have  often  been  held,  and  often  deceived ;  but  it  is  a 
miserable  folly  which  would  thence  conclude  that  they  can 
never  be  realized ;  and  which,  from  the  poor  experience  of 
a  few  hundred  years  undisturbed  by  miracle,  would  take 
occasion  to  ask, — "Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming? 
for  since  the  Fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  continue  as 
they  were."  It  does,  indeed,  seem  to  be  a  providential 
arrangement  of  God  that  at  almost  all  periods  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  coming  should  be  preserved  in  the  Church. 
Ages  have,  it  is  true,  proved  the  fallacy  of  these  im- 
mediate hopes;  yet  the  hope  itself  "springs  immortal;" 
and  still,  with  unrelenting  earnestness,  the  brotherhood  of 
Christ  strain  eye  and  ear  to  catch  the  distant  gleaming 
of  the  advent  light  and  the  sound  of  the  chariot-wheels. 
From  their  very  failures  they  gain  (and  not  unjustly)  a 
ground  of  hope ;  for  that  which  must  at  a  definite  (though 
unknown)  period  be  accomplished,  and  has  not  yet  been, 
must,  in  virtue  of  those  very  disappointments  and  in  pro- 
portion to  their  number,  be  judged  the  nearer.  And  were 
we  to  judge  by  the  analogy  of  the  first  advent  of  the  same 
mighty  Personage,  we  would  expect  an  undefined  anlicipa- 
iion,  mingled  with  much  disbelief,  to  herald  his  approach  ; 
as  if  the  human  heart  felt  itself  beat  quicker,  it  knew  not 


SERM.  XIII.]  The  Ascension. 


205 


why,  at  the  approach  of  so  tremendous  an  event ;  or  as  if 
all  nature  (like  the  pulseless  calm  that  precedes  an  earth- 
quake) silently  owned  a  secret  terror  as  the  Creator  again 
descended  into  his  work !  However  the  dispensations  of 
God  be  arranged, — and  of  that  which  the  very  angels  of 
heaven  know  not,  nor  even  the  Son  in  his  human  and 
prophetic  capacity,  I  dare  not  to  pronounce ; — our  path  of 
practice  is  equally  sure.  If  it  is  given  you  to  believe  that 
"to  be  absent  from  the  body"  is  "to  be  present  with  the 
Lord,"  you  will  rejoice  as  sincerely  to  seek  him  there,  as  to 
await  bim  here.  The  grave  may  receive  every  frame  that 
now  breathes  before  me ;  darkness  and  the  worm  may  be 
the  destined  lot  of  all  that  now  glows  with  life ; — but  you 
know  the  apostle's  inspired  promise  to  such.  He  taught 
those  tremblers  of  old, — that  they  who  remained  alive  to 
the  coming  of  the  Lord,  were  to  have  no  privilege  before 
the  dead  that  slept  in  Jesus: — that  the  grave  could  make 
no  divorce  between  the  Saviour  and  the  saved;  yea,  that  a 
precedence  was  even  to  be  given  in  the  work  of  the  heavenly 
introduction  to  those  whose  Christian  deathbeds  had  in  all 
ages  preached  immortality  to  the  survivors, — for  that  "the 
dead  in  Christ  were  to  rise  Jirst."  Oh,  beloved,  as  you  feel 
and  know  the  importance  of  these  things,  let  your  life  of 
holiness  be  "  meet  for  this  inheritance  of  light !"  Then, — 
when  the  mighty  hour  of  final  triumph  shall  indeed  come; 
when  the  second  Ascension  shall  take  place, — no  longer  the 
solitary  Christ  vanishing  in  the  cloud  from  his  lingering 
followers,  but  the  royal  Judge  encompassed  by  millions  of 
his  saints — then,  indeed,  shall  you  be  able, — (oh,  may  this 
assembly  furnish  a  goodly  contingent  to  that  glorious  army 
of  the  just!)  to  cry  again  with  the  Psalmist, — "God  is 
gone  up  with  a  shout;  Jehovah  with  the  sound  of  a  trum. 
pet.  Sing  praises  unto  our  King,  sing  praises! "...Now 
indeed  and  of  very  truth, — "the  Lord  reigneth,  let  the 
earth  rejoice;  let  the  multitude  of  the  isles  be  glad!... The 
Lord  is  great  in  Zion ;  he  is  high  above  all  people ! " 
VOL.  II.— 18 


SERMON  XIV. 


THE  FOLLY  OP  MORAL  COWARDICE. 
Be  not  thou,  therefore,  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord. — 2  Timothy  i.  8. 

This  present  world,  my  clearest  friends,  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  grand  field  of  battle  between  the  powers  of 
good  and  evil.  In  this  world  the  forces  on  both  sides  are 
arranged  in  perpetual  encounter ;  and  that  contest,  the 
fame  of  which  occupies  the  universe,  is  perhaps  on  this 
narrow  globe  to  be  finally  decided.  That  the  conflict  of 
sin  and  holiness  has  ever  extended  beyond  our  earth ; 
that  through  the  immensity  of  worlds  like  our  own,  which 
throng  the  infinite  space  around  us,  there  has  ever  been 
anything  at  all  similar  to  our  Fall  and  our  Eedemption, 
we  have  at  least  no  direct  grounds  to  suppose ; — for  all  zve 
can  tell,  this  world  alone  is  the  field  of  contest  and  the 
prize  of  victory ;  and  bears  much  the  same  relation  to  the 
grand  dispute  between  good  and  evil  Avhich  in  our  earthly 
politics  any  small  district,  made  the  temporary  scene  and 
occasion  of  war,  bears  to  the  rival  interests  of  vast  and 
powerful  monarchs.  The  district  itself  may  be  limited, 
but  it  is  the  theatre  of  a  mighty  contest ;  it  may  be  the 
same  speck  in  the  map  of  the  world  which  our  world  is  in 
the  map  of  the  universe,  but  yet  a  tremendous  question  is 
brought  to  issue  on  it,  and  the  importance  of  the  question 
communicates  itself  to  the  scene  where  that  question  is 
at  stake.    If  among  ourselves  men  will  make  a  pilgrimage 


SEBM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


207 


of  curiosity  and  admiration  to  any  scene  where  nations 
have  met  in  the  terrible  embrace  of  battle, — a  Leipsic  or  a 
Waterloo, — with  what  a  depth  of  interest  may  we  conceive 
that  this  world  of  ours  shall  hereafter  be  regarded  by  the 
hosts  of  Heaven, — this  world  where  the  last  great  conflict 
was  fought  between  the  armaments  of  Heaven  and  of  Hell, 
and  the  crown  of  undisputed  glory  for  ever  secured  to  the 
Messiah  of  God ! 

But  the  most  wondrous  thing  about  this  great  conflict 
is, — its  deep  silence !  The  battle  of  God  and  of  Satan  is 
raging  round  us  every  hour, — we  are  in  the  thick  of  the 
encounter;  and  yet  we  scarcely  hear  it.  There  is  no 
"  noise  of  the  Captains"  nor  "  shouting."  "  Every  battle 
of  the  warrior,"  says  the  great  Prophet,  "is  with  confused 
noise,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood," — but  here  there  is  a 
silence  as  profound  as  slumber !  It  is  not  that  the  name 
of  religion  and  of  the  heavenly  warfare  is  altogether 
unheard.  Of  names  and  watch-words  we  have  indeed 
abundance,  of  busy  controversy  no  lack,  of  bitter  ill-will 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  an  overflowing  measure.  But  the 
matter  of  which  we  speak,  the  real  warfare  of  good  and 
evil,  has  no  connection  with  these  formal  follies  and  miser- 
able delusions.  The  true  contest,  that  which  includes  the 
winning  or  losing  of  hearts  to  God, — the  inward  securing 
of  blessedness  or  condemnation,  that  contest  is  lost  and 
stifled  amid  the  busy  bustle  of  man's  interests  and  pas- 
sions. It  goes  on,  but  it  goes  on  unnoticed.  Yes!  the 
disputes  of  a  neighborhood,  the  momentary  encounter  of 
rival  interests, — are  loud  enough  to  occupy  every  ear  and 
every  mind ; — the  conflict  of  Heaven  and  Hell,  the  strife 
that  fills  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  eternity,  is 
around  us, — nay,  within  us, — and  not  one  in  one  hundred 
has  even  really  known  of  its  existence  1 

But  what  infinitely  heightens  this  wonder  is, — that  in 
this  very  contest  we  are  ourselves  the  combatants  I  Were 
we  mere  spectators,  we  might  slumber  in  the  contempla- 


208 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Coivardice.     [seem.  xiv. 


tion.  But  we  are  ourselves  the  soldiers  in  the  fray.  The 
Leaders  indeed  are  not  of  us, — the  Captain  of  Salvation 
and  the  Spirit  of  Evil.  But  under  the  rival  standards  we 
are,  every  one  of  us,  arrayed;  each  busy  in  manifesting 
allegiance  to  his  master,  and  earnest  in  spreading  his 
empire.  There  is  not  one  being  present  here, — those  per- 
haps excepted  who  are  upon  the  turning  point  of  change, — ■ 
who  is  not  silently  registering  himself  as  the  resolute  war- 
rior of  Christ  or  of  Satan ;  and  who  is  not  at  this  moment 
acknowledged  in  the  rolls  of  Ileaven  or  of  Hell  as  such. 
You  are  all  fighting  for  your  chosen  cause,  whether  you 
know  it  or  know  it  not.  This  is  a  truth  you  cannot  evade: 
may  the  Spirit  of  God  teach  you  not  to  try  to  evade  it ! . . . 
And  the  warfare  never  ceases!  Keturn  to  privacy, — there 
in  your  conversation,  your  conduct,  your  expressed  opin- 
ions, you  are  earnestly  laboring  for  Christ  or  for  his  enemy. 
Go  forth  to  public  life, — there,  amid  the  tumult  of  the 
throng,  remember  that  you,  in  common  with  every  mem- 
ber of  that  throng,  are  personally  contending  for  the  ex- 
tension of  the  empire  of  God  or  the  empire  of  evil.  Eeject 
domestic  life  and  public  life,  and  mingle  among  your 
friends  and  acquaintance, — there  the  tremendous  responsi- 
bility still  follows  — by  your  words,  by  your  deeds,  by  the 
mere  influence  of  example,  you  are  combating  as  zealously 
for  Christ  in  person  or  for  the  Devil  in  person,  as  if  with 
your  bodily  eyes  you  could  behold  the  Kedeemer  and  the 
Destroyer,  and  all  the  army  of  angels  and  fiends  that  ac- 
company them, — and  with  your  bodily  ears  catch  the 
words  of  encouragement  they  issue, — the  notes  of  joy  that 
from  Heaven  hail  the  repentant,  and  the  horrid  mirth  with 
which  the  Tempter  rejoices  over  a  ruined  soul!...  Oh  I  does 
not  this  matter  concern  us?  If  such  be  the  condition  of 
man,  that,  by  the  mere  fact  of  being  a  gospel-hearer,  he 
enters  his  name  and  takes  his  side  in  this  awful  contest, — 
if  there  is,  and  can  be,  no  neutrality,  with  what  eagerness 
ought  we  indeed  to  inquire, — "What  party  have  we  espous- 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Coimrdice. 


209 


ed  ?  where  is  our  place  in  the  campaign  ?  If  the  veil  Avere 
suddenly  raised  which  hides  from  the  bodily  eye  the  good 
and  evil  spirits  that  are  around  us,  in  icMch  array  would 
we  be  found, — among  the  friends  of  God,  or  among  those 
who,  for  a  while,  have  gathered  their  forces  against  the 
monarchy  of  Christ,  but  are  destined  to  be  consumed  by 
the  brightness  of  his  appearing  ! 

The  scene  of  this  conflict,  then,  is  the  world ;  and  of 
the  world,  especially,  the  human  heart.  The  instruments, 
therefore,  by  which,  the  warfare  must  be  conducted,  can 
only  be  the  motives  that  influence  the  human  heart.  This 
is  only  to  say  that  the  means  of  attack  and  resistance 
must  be  suitable  to  the  nature  of  the  country.  "  The 
weapons  of  our  warfare,"  as  St  Paul  expresses  it,  "  are  not 
carnal :" — they  are  of  a  spiritual  nature,  because  they  are 
to  be  applied  to  a  spiritual  substance.  The  sword  of  steel 
pierces  the  body :  "the  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  Word  of 
God."  The  shield  may  protect  the  outward  frame;  but 
that  to  which  the  Apostle  invites  our  attention  and  our 
prayers  is, — "  the  shield  of  faith,  wherewith  ye  shall  be 
able  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked." 

Can  we,  then,  do  better  than  call  over  a  few  of  the 
weapons  in  the  armory  of  Satan,  by  which  he  is  enabled 
to  conduct  his  attack  with  a  success  so  appalling?  Can 
we  do  better,  when  about  to  appeal  to  Christian  charity 
for  the  means  of  resisting  the  ministry  of  darkness  by 
the  message  of  light  and  life, — for  the  means  of  making 
"  the  poor  of  this  world  rich  in  faith,"  of  spreading  and 
strengthening  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  you, — can  we 
do  better  on  such  an  occasion  than  revert  to  the  powers 
that  resist  the  work  in  our  own  hearts  and  in  the  hearts 
of  those  on  whom  we  press  the  Gospel  ?  Let  us  make  our 
enterprise  of  Christian  Love  the  occasion  of  earnest  self- 
inquiry  and  self-humiliation,  and  God  will  accept  and  bless 
it  I  One  of  the  most  powerful  of  these  adversaries  of  God 
in  the  heart  of  man  is  (as  we  shall  see)  alluded  to  in  the 

18* 


210 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice.     [serm.  xiv. 


text;  but  it  will  reward  our  pains  to  introduce  it  by  a  very 
sliort  notice  of  some  of  its  sister  delusions. 

The  first  place  in  the  melancholy  catalogue  belongs  to 
Disbelief.  In  other  words, — a  vast  proportion  are  in  the 
bondage  of  irreligion,  because  they  have  never  helieved  the 
Gospel.  To  believe  the  Gospel  is  to  believe  a  great  deal. 
It  is,  to  be  firmly  persuaded  (whether  by  argument  or  any 
other  means)  that  there  was  a  period  of  our  world  at  which 
a  series  of  events  occurred  wholly  unlike  everything  that 
engages  our  attention  in  the  daily  course  of  experience  : — 
to  bo  persuaded  that  there  was  a  time  when,  to  remedy 
human  sin,  the  Creator  of  the  World  descended  into  his 
own  creation  in  order  to  become  its  Saviour;  that,  for  this 
purpose,  assuming  all  the  weaknesses  incident  to  our  flesh, 
sin  alone  excepted,  he  was  familiar  as  a  daily  friend  with 
the  creatures  he  had  made,  and  died  at  length  by  their 
hands ;  that,  rising  again,  he  demonstrated  the  fulness  of 
his  triumph  over  the  powers  of  darkness,  and,  sending  the 
gift  of  his  illumining  Spirit,  founded  upon  earth  a  society 
■whose  office  it  is  to  look  unto  "the  Author  and  Finisher  of 
their  faith,"  and  live  as  those  who  expect  the  return  of  their 
absent  Lord  to  establish  a  kingdom  of  everlasting  righteous- 
ness. This  is  to  believe  the  Gospel !  You  see  that  it 
brings  you  wholly  beyond  the  limits  of  common  experi- 
ence ;  it  calls  you  into  a  new  and  spiritual  world  governed 
by  laws  unlike  any  to  which  you  are  here  habituated. 
Brethren !  I  am  forced  to  ask, — How  many  of  us  can  sin- 
cerely say  we  are  "  believers'"  of  these  facts  ?  How  many 
of  us  have  any  but  a  faint  and  transitory  notion  that  all 
this  ever  happened  ?  How  many  of  us  can  honestly  say 
that  we  have  as  clear  a  conviction  of  the  life  and  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Lord  Jesus  as  we  have  of  any  the  most  distant 
incident  of  our  own  past  lives?  Is  it  conceivable  that 
truths  so  tremendous  could  really  be  believed, — truths  in 
which  we  are  all  so  profoundly  concerned, — and  yet  produce 
not  the  slightest  result  upon  conduct  and  feeling  ?    No,  the 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Coicardice.  211 


unchristian  in  practice  is  an  infidel  in  theory;  he  feels 
not  because  he  believes  not ;  he  believes  not  because  he  at  ■ 
tends  not ;  he  attends  not, — because  the  Spirit  of  Darkness 
is  ever  busy  blocking  up  every  access  to  his  mind  with  the 
shadowy  fears,  and  hopes  yet  more  shadowy,  of  a  ruined 
and  perishable  world.  But  the  Spirit  of  Darkness  has  other 
engines  as  destructive  as  unbelief  itself, — 

For  instance,  there  is  the  agency  of  Indolence  !  Belief  is 
here  arrived  at,  perhaps ;  a  speculative  conviction  of  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel.  And  there  are,  accordingly,  some 
symptoms  of  life,  admissions  of  the  enormous  importance 
of  religion,  abstinence  from  ordinary  vices,  efforts  towards 
a  more  diffusive  charity.  A  suspicion  is  also  entertained 
that  a  mightier  change  is  required;  and  that  all  this,  though 
it  be  among  the  fruits  of  the  regenerate  nature,  is  yet  not 
the  regenerate  nature  itself.  Occasional  prayers  are  now 
ofi'ered  to  God  for  his  assistance  in  this  greater  work  ;  pur- 
poses of  commencing  it  are  made,  and  repeated,  and  made 
again;  yet  how  is  it?  years  follow  years, — the  soul  is 
hastening  to  judgment, — and  the  change  never  comes  !  It 
is  prayed  for  now  and  then  ;  it  is  asked  with  very  tears, — 
now  and  then ;  under  the  urgencies  of  a  powerful  preacher 
or  of  a  faithful  friend,  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  one 
eternal  truth  of  God ; — and  yet  the  change  is  not  come,  the 
step  itself  which  brings  the  spirit  of  a  believer  into  the  cir- 
cle of  the  people  of  the  Lord,  is  not  effected !  There  are 
times, — and  at  some  period  or  other  they  come  (awful  to 
think !)  in,  as  I  believe,  the  lives  of  nearly  all  hearers  of 
the  Gospel, — when  the  light  of  divine  truth  seems  to  shine 
with  unspeakable  glory  upon  the  soul, — it  may  be  in  afflic- 
tion, in  prayer,  in  contemplation,  or  when  listening  to  the 
preaching  of  the  word,  for  the  outward  occasions  are  many ; 
there  are  times  in  the  life  of  almost  every  man,  when  earth 
half  disappears  and  heaven  is  nearer  to  the  mind,  and  at 
which  a  sanguine  or  susceptible  temper  is  apt  to  believe 
that  it  could  forever  resign  heart  and  life  to  the  dominion 


212 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Gou-ardice.     [serm.  xiv. 


of  God ;  and,  nevertheless,  let  the  occasion  pass  away,  and 
the  emotion  passes  with  it, — the  tide  ebbs,  and  leaves  the 
heart  dry  as  ever, — and  the  momentary  Christian  goes 
forth  into  the  world,  through  sheer  indolence,  once  more  a 
worldling,  gaining  nothing  by  the  temporary  piety  but  a 
confirmed  distrust  in  every  return  of  better  feeling ! . .  .Dear 
brethren  !  if  this  case  apply  to  any  of  you,  in  the  name  of 
Christ  and  of  your  own  salvation,  I  call  upon  you  to  receive 
such,  visitations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  as  pledges  of  his  abid- 
ing presence,  and  encouragements  to  progress.  If  any  of 
you  have  known  such  hours  of  blessedness,  oh,  relinquish 
not  by  indolent  neglect  these  bright  promises  of  the  heaven 
that  awaits  you !  They  are  the  twilight  of  the  celestial 
dawn,  the  foretaste  of  Paradise.  If  God  has  thus  drawn 
near  to  you,  will  you  not  indeed  cultivate  his  glorious  ac- 
quaintance ?  By  being  visited  with  such  feelings,  you 
have  been  specially  marked  out  as  having  in  you  a  some- 
thing not  wholly  unfitted  for  the  kingdom  and  presence  of 
God.  The  eye  of  that  God  is  lovingly  upon  you.  The 
hosts  of  the  blessed  are  anticipating  your  companionship 
in  their  own  holy  regions.  Will  you,  by  indolent  neglect, 
and  that  wretched  indecision  which  hovers  between  sin  and 
holiness  till  death  cuts  short  the  question,  forfeit  the  in- 
heritance of  glory  which  was  more  than  ever  your  inherit- 
ance from  the  time  that  the  Spirit  of  God  called  at  your 
heart  and  made  you  feel  the  value  of  your  inestimable 
privileges  ?  Called  as  all  are  to  be  the  children  of  God, 
you  are  called  in  a  special  sense  to  whom  God  has  even 
for  the  briefest  periotl  made  himself  known,  in  feelings  of 
piety  sent  by  Ilim,  in  tenderness  of  spirit  sent  by  Him,  in 
holy  hopes  sent  by  Him,  in  deadness  to  the  world  sent  by 
Ilim,  in  humble  happy  dcpendance,  his,  and  only  his,  in- 
valuable gift! 

We  have  spoken  of  the  terrible  power  of  indolent  inde- 
cision as  an  instrument  of  Satan  for  preserving  the  spirits 
of  men  in  captivitv  to  his  will.    The  text  intimates  nnother 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folhj  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


213 


yet; — shame,  or  the  fear  of  man's  opinion.  And  truly  I 
believe  that  no  snare  ever  invented  by  the  Adversary  of 
Man  has  secured  a  larger  array  than  this,  of  recruits  to  the 
army  of  evil.  Disbelief  is  blind  to  the  Gospel ;  indolence 
evades  it ;  but  shame  alone  deserts  and  degrades  it.  "  Be 
not  thou,"  says  the  Apostle  to  his  convert, — "  Be  not  thou, 
therefore,  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord."  Feel  no 
shame  in  executing  the  honorable  office  of  witness  to  his 
truth.  Chosen  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  exult  in  your 
high  commission,  and  let  the  world  perceive  that  you  value 
the  reproach  of  Christ  above  all  that  world  can  offer !  For 
my  own  part,  I,  Paul,  "  am  not  ashamed,  for  I  know  in 
whom  I  have  believed :"  or,  as  he  expresses  it  elsewhere 
(Rom.  i.  16),  "I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ; 
for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
belie  veth." 

That  there  is,  then,  such  a  feeling, — monstrous  though  it 
be, — as  this,  of  being  ashamed  of  goodness  in  every  form, 
but  more  especially,  of  being  ashamed  of  professing  dis- 
cipleship  to  Christ, — it  is  (I  suppose),  unnecessary  to  jemind 
you.  (All  of  us  may  see  it  in  the  world;  not  a  few  of  us, 
I  fear,  may  detect  it  in  ourselves.)  We  all  know,  that 
there  are  those,  who,  incapable  of  shame  in  the  commission 
and  the  avowal  of  the  grossest  profligacy,  will  yet  blush  to 
be  convicted  of  having  yielded  for  a  moment  to  a  transient 
impulse  of  religious  emotion.  The  fact  being  certain,  I 
ask  you  to  contemplate  the  utter  extravagance  of  this  per- 
version of  feelings.  And  if  there  be  here  any  who 
recognize,  in  any  of  its  degrees,  this  weakness  among  their 
own,  I  beseech  them  to  reflect  how  utterly  irreconcilable 
it  is  to  any  principle  even  of  that  common  reason  which 
we  all  acknowledge  as  the  guide  of  life...  And,  perhaps,  the 
simplest  mode  of  effecting  this, — for  I  would  address  you 
with  studious  simplicity, — is  by  comparing  our  views  of 
worldly  and  of  heavenly  things,  and  showing  how  .strangely 
the  wisdom,  which  governs  us  in  the  things  of  earth,  deserts 


214 


The  Fully  of  Moral  Cowardice.     [seem.  xiv. 


us  when  once  we  pass  to  tlie  higlier  platform  of  the  eternal 
world. 

To  any  listener,  tlien,  who  would  be  a  Christian  but  dares 
not, — to  any  whom  a  miserable  dread  of  his  fellow-sinners 
prevents  from  avowing  his  terrors  or  his  hopes  in  Christ, — 
to  any  who  would  tremble  before  God  only  that  he  trembles 
before  a  brother-worm, — to  any  who,  in  whatever  degree, — 
for  this  folly  is  of  many  degrees,  and  few  wholly  escape 
it, — is  "ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord," — I  put  it 
simply  but  earnestly, — how  is  such  a  feeling  justifiable  upon, 
any  grounds  of  reason?  I  do  not  now  oppose  it  as  opposed 
to  the  express  commands  of  Scripture,  though  these  indeed 
are  reiterated  and  impressive ;  I  oppose  it  merely  upon  the 
ground  of  its  utter  inconsistency  with  the  principles  which 
you  yourselves  recognize  as  the  governing  principles  of  this 
our  daily  life  and  experience. 

For  in  the  first  place, — you  who  are  ashamed  of  your 
fellow-men  to  avow  the  profession  of  Christ,  is  it  that  you 
are  ashamed  of  believing  certain  estahlished  trtcths, — such  as 
the  Gospel  comprises  ?  Are  you  ashamed  of  confessing, 
that,  however  the  half-learning  and  entire  corruption  of  a 
few  wretched  objectors  have  labored  to  sap  the  mighty 
basis  of  the  Gospel  revelation,  you  still  can  perceive  in 
that  wondrous  story  the  lineaments  of  truth, — a  power  and 
an  evidence  such  as  felsehood  never  possessed  ?  Is  it  of 
this  conviction  you  are  ashamed  ?  I  will  not  tell  you  that 
such  shame  is  a  foul  desertion  of  a  cause  you  cannot  disbe- 
lieve,—but  I  ivill  ask, — is  this  to  be  the  onhj  conviction,  the 
possession  of  which  brings  shame  and  timidity?  Does 
shame  attend  the  deep  convictions  that  regulate  daily  con- 
duct? Has  any  man,  upon  any  other  subject,  ever  been 
ashamed  of  avowing  a  belief  founded  upon  adequate  testi- 
mony ?  ashamed  of  employing  his  intellect  in  the  discovery 
of  truth,  and  arriving  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion  ?  I  will 
state  an  instance.  Has  any  man  ever, — fallen  as  humanity 
is,  has  any  man  ever  (supposing  him  of  common  honesty) 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


215 


learned  ■upon  unquestionable  proofs  the  certainty  of  a  deed 
of  friendship  done  him  by  a  disinterested  benefactor,  a 
deed  noble  in  all  its  circumstances,  important  in  all  its 
results, — and  blushed  to  avow  his  lelief  that  the  deed  was 
truly  done  ?  Conceive  him  snatched  from  awful  danger  at 
the  peril  of  a  life,  conceive  enormous  debts  freely  dis- 
charged, conceive  him  rescued  from  the  horrors  of  a  pri- 
son,— and  can  you  imagine  the  rescued  man  ashamed  to 
avow  his  hwiuledge  that  he  owed  it  all  to  the  free  uncon- 
strained compassion  of  a  friend?  Who  here  would  not 
shrink  from  the  meanness  of  such  falsehood  of  heart  ?  Yet 
behold, — in  this  gospel  story,  we  have  all  these  very  cir- 
cumstances acted  upon  the  great  theatre  of  Eternity ;  we 
have  a  rescue  from  peril  by  the  very  death  of  the  rescuer, 
and  a  security  offered  of  everlasting  life, — we  have  the  free 
cancel  of  debts  never  capable  of  discharge  by  us, — we 
have  the  precious  purchase-money  of  redemption  paid, 
even  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  without  spot, — and  yet,  in  the 
company  of  our  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  dust,  we  have 
the  inconceivable  meanness  to  evade  admitting  our  lelief 
in  the  reality  of  these  inestimable  blessings !  We  cannot 
shake  off  the  conviction,  but  we  would  hide  it.  We  can- 
not burst  the  bonds  of  our  belief,  but  we  are  heartily 
ashamed  of  the  disgrace  of  being  convinced  by  the  Gospel ! 

But  again, — you  who  blush  to  be  thought  a  Christian ! 
is  it  of  the  Prudence  of  your  course  you  are  ashamed  ?  of 
the  fact  that  while  others  are  dissipating  the  short  allow- 
ance of  life  to  no  purpose,  you  are  laying  up  treasure  where 
the  moth  does  not  corrupt  nor  the  thief  plunder?  I  ask 
not  what  the  Word  of  God  declares  of  your  cowardice, 
but  I  ask  what  judgment  your  own  daily  'practice  passes 
upon  it.  Is,  then,  a  prudential  regard  to  a  man's  own  wel- 
fare so  universally  discredited  upon  earth  that  you  should 
tremble  to  be  detected  in  evincing  it  ?  Are  you  ashamed 
that  men  should  know  that  from  morn  till  night  your 
thoughts  are  busy  in  securing  the  wealth  of  this  world  for 


216 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice.     [serm.  XIV. 


yourself  or  your  possible  descendants, — tliat  at  every  hour 
there  burns  in  the  temple  of  your  heart  the  fires  of  that 
idolatry  whose  god  is  "  the  god  of  this  world," — that  every 
second  thought  is  devoted  to  the  great  purpose  of  aug- 
menting possessions,  extending  connections,  advancing 
your  personal  importance?  Or,  on  the  contrary,  is  it  not 
certain,  that  no  character  possesses  more  of  general  esteem 
than  he  who  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  has  lived  exclu- 
sively for  such  purposes  as  these,  if  he  have  but  pursued 
them  without  any  striking  violation  of  the  common  rules 
of  honesty  ?  Such  is  worldly  Prudence  and  its  estimation. 
Now  change  the  scene,  expand  the  Prudence  until  it  takes 
in  the  concerns  of  an  eternity,  and  is  the  estitnate  to  be 
altered?  Alas!  you  value  yourself  upon  the  long-sighted 
prudence  whose  calculations  are  bounded  by  the  grave ; 
you  are  ashamed  of  that  which  comprehends  the  hajipiness 
of  immortality : — you  glory  in  pursuing  a  wealth  that 
withers  in  your  hand,  you  blush  to  be  known  as  a  specu- 
lator in  the  treasures  of  heaven ;  you  exult  in  doubling 
that  income  which  after  all  no  accountant  would  assure  to 
some  of  us  for  five  years,  or  four  years,  or  a  single  year, — 
but  when  the  calculation  swells  till  it  embraces  the  terri- 
tories of  God's  coming  kingdom,  an  inheritance  that  cannot 
fade,  a  crown  of  glory  immortal  in  the  heavens, — when  the 
"  bidding"  is  for  the  fee  of  a  celestial  estate, — it  is  no  longer 
"  Prudence"  to  pursue  the  speculation,  it  is  "  Enthusiasm," 
and  "  Fanaticism,"  and  "  Hypocrisy,"  and  the-  rest, — and 
you  are  ashamed  to  avow  it ! 

Again, — if  indeed  it  be  not  of  the  Prudence  of  j^our 
Religious  calling  you  are  ashamed,  is  it  of  yoiir  superiority 
to  common  temptations,  of  hopes  that  place  you  above  the 
pleasures  of  this  world,  and  a  serenity  unaffected  by  its 
troubles  ?  There  are  those  who  have  even  attained  to  this 
pitch  of  habitual  piety,  and  yet — melancholy  to  say — have 
still  the  weakness  to  dread  the  scoff  of  fools,  and  who  would 
willingly  evade  the  topics  they  love  in  solitude,  when  engaged 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


217 


among  tlie  societies  of  unbelieving  men.  You  are  ashamed, 
then,  to  publish,  your  very  superiority,  to  let  men  see  and 
know  the  purifying  power  of  the  principles  you  profess ! 
But  was  ever  man,  on  any  other  subject,  similarly  ashamed? 
It  is  a  total  mistake  to  suppose  that  Christianity  is 
the  only  profession  that  requires  a  superiority  to  tempta- 
tion. The  truth  is  (and  it  is  an  awful  truth  as  it  tells  upon 
our  state  before  God)  that  men  do  commonly,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  earthly  distinction,  endure  a  series  of  pre- 
paratory trials,  and  difficulties,  and  self-denials,  at  the  very 
least  equal  to  what  would  have  vanquished  a  corrupt  nature? 
and  secured  under  the  blessing  of  Christ,  a  high  place  in 
the  everlasting  world.  There  is  probably  not  an  individual 
here  who  cannot  remember  that,  within  the  past  week  or 
month,  he  has  through  respect  for  man  or  for  his  own 
future  advancement,  laid  himself  under  restraints  precisely 
the  same  in  severity  as  Eeligion  is  perpetually  asking  and 
perpetually  asking  in  vain !  So  much  for  the  common  ex- 
cuse derived  from  the  power  of  temptation  and  the  cor- 
responding mercy  of  God  ;  so  much  for  the  expectation  that 
God  will  pardon  us  in  consideration  of  the  force  of  a  temp- 
tation which  the  presence  of  a  single  bystander  would  have 
ensured  our  triumphantly  conquering! 

If,  then,  it  be  certain  that  every  worldly  pursuit  requires 
for  success  a  superiority  to  temptations  of  some  kind,  is  it 
not  most  inconsistent  to  see  no  glory  in  the  Christian  con- 
quest of  difficulties,  and  all  that  is  splendid  and  attractive 
in  the  conquest  of  them  for  the  poor  purposes  of  earthly  ad- 
vancement f  When  we  see  the  young  laborer  among  your- 
selves who  for  years  toils  through  the  dull  difficulties  of  his 
preparatory  study  on  the  faint  uncertain  hope  of  reaping 
future  fame,  we  sympathize  with  his  hopes,  we  wish  good 
speed  to  his  courageous  perseverance, — it  is  so  in  every 
profession  and  pursuit  of  mankind — but  one !  Extend  the 
hope  to  the  skies,  exchange  an  earthly  for  an  immortal 
scene,  let  the  crown  which  hangs  in  view  be  not  this  world's, 

VOL.  II.— 19 


218 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice.     [serm.  xiv. 


— an  apparent  crown  of  glory  to  the  eye,  a  real  crown  of 
thorns  to  the  brow, — but  such  as  Christ  wore, — thorns  for 
a  while  in  this  world,  glory  in  the  next, — let  ihis  be  the 
prize  for  which  the  ambition  is  aroused  and  the  struggle 
made, — and  all  the  admiration  vanishes,  and  the  combatants 
themselves  in  this  heavenly  conflict  become  half  ashamed 
of  exhibiting  their  own  victories,  or  being  known  in  the 
grace  and  power  of  God  to  have  achieved  them  ! 

Once  more,  I  ask  of  you  who  tremble  at  the  sarcasms  of 
man,  are  you  indeed  ashamed  of  communion  tviili  God;  of 
that  high  and  holy  privilege  which  enables  you  even  in 
this  life  to  traverse  unchallenged  the  courts  of  Heaven? 
Do  you  dread  that  man  should  know  that  the  Holy  One 
who  inhabiteth  eternity  has  deigned  ere  now  to  sanctify 
your  heart  with  His  presence  ?  Do  you  fear  it  should  be 
whispered  among  men  that  to  you  hath  been  fulfilled  that 
bright  promise  of  the  Saviour  to  his  people, — "  if  a  man 
love  Me,  he  will  keep  my  words ;  and  my  Father  will  love 
him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with 
him."  (John  xiv.  23.)  Alas  I  in  this  instance  too,  how 
strange  is  that  perversity  which  alters  every  principle  of 
ordinary  life,  on  the  field  of  religion!  Men  are  respected 
in  the  dignity  of  their  acquaintance ;  to  be  familiar  with 
the  great  is  in  a  manner  to  share  their  greatness ;  and  even 
beyond  wealth  itself  is  the  peculiar  power  of  rank  and  of 
association  with  rank.  But  shift  the  scene,  as  before ;  in- 
stead of  the  transitory  splendors  of  earthly  greatness  let 
the  curtain  rise  upon  the  unclouded  Majesty  of  Heaven ; 
let  the  Monarch  of  the  Universe  (of  vvhom  all  earthly 
authority  is  but  the  image)  be  the  acquaintance  sought  or 
the  guest  received,  and — oh  incredible  impiety  lost  in  still 
more  incredible  folly! — men  regard  with  contempt  or 
neglect  the  being  thus  favored,  (and  every  genuine  follower 
of  Christ  is  thus  favored) — dignities  like  these  have  no 
attraction, — the  God  of  all  glory  wanders  through  his  own 
world  almost  uuackaowledged,  or  is  abandoned  to  the  hos- 


SEEM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


219 


pitality  of  the  poorest  and  most  destitute  hearts, — and  it  is 
well  if  even  these  are  not  driven  by  the  contempt  of  their 
fellows  to  secrete  in  very  shame  the  Divine  Inmate  who 
honors  them ! 

Such,  then,  is  the  "scandal  of  the  Gospel," — such  the 
being  "  ashamed,  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord."  The  Apos- 
tles who  were  placed  among  professed  unhelievers,  had  many 
additional  causes,  to  which,  of  course,  in  addressing  a  Chris- 
tian congregation,  it  is  needless  to  allude.  The  marvellous 
humiliation  of  the  life  of  Christ,  and  the  ignominy  of  his 
death,  were  common  subjects  of  Heathen,  as  they  are  to 
this  day  of  Infidel,  sarcasm.  I  need  not  tell  you  (I  trust) 
that  these  are  the  very  circumstances  which  raise  to  its 
highest  sublimity  "  the  mystery  of  godliness — God  manifest 
in  the  flesh."  ...  I  have  preferred  to  consider  this  cowardice 
in  our  Gospel  profession  as  it  exists  among  ourselves, — 
among  us  who  boast  to  be  Christians,  but  so  seldom  boast 
to  be  Christ-like ! 

I  know  that  this  dread  of  man's  opinion  is  not  without 
its  causes.  I  know  that  the  world  loves  to  be  undisturbed 
in  its  indulgences ;  that  the  surest  way  of  being  so  is  to  set 
the  tone  of  public  fashion  against  that  public  disturber,  the 
Gospel  of  Christ;  and  that  every  thing  thus  unfashionable 
is,  to  feeble  and  unsteady  minds,  the  subject  of  shame.  I 
know  that  unbelief  represents  the  aims  of  religion  as  sha- 
dowy visions  without  base  or  substance ;  that  for  such  pur- 
poses constraint  seems  preposterous ;  that  the  Gospel,  which 
calls  for  such  restraint,  is  therefore  despised  as  a  delusion 
or  repelled  as  a  nuisance ;  and  that,  even  for  the  humble 
believers  who  look  for  the  coming  of  Christ  and  who  know 
that  this  world  is  but  the  antechamber  of  another,  it  is  hard 
to  war, — short  and  preparatory  though  life  be, — against  the 
absence  of  sympathy  and  the  presence  of  contempt.  All 
this  I  know;  but  I  know  also  that  it  is  all  destined  to  form 
a  portion  of  that  necessary  trial  which  alone  can  confirm 
in  habits  and  principles  meet  for  Heaven.    I  know  that 


220 


The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice.     [serm.  xiv. 


"wliom  no  lovetli  He  cbastenetli ;"  that  not  one  affliction  is 
visited  unnecessarily  upon  the  children  of  the  heavenly 
Parent ;  that,  hard  as  this  trial  may  be,  yet  we  are  called 
upon  "to  endure  hardness  as  soldiers  of  Christ."  If  there 
be  any  among  you  who  feel  the  severity  of  this  ordeal, — 
who,  consecrating  the  earliest  energies  of  life  to  the  cause 
of  Christ,  yet  dread  the  scoffs  of  the  unhappy  rebels  against 
that  cause,  that  surround  you ; — still  more,  if  there  be  any 
who,  with  a  lingering  disposition  for  religion,  arc  yet 
deterred  from  being  all  that  the  Spirit  of  God  could  make 
them,  by  the  fear  of  some  wretched  by-staudcr  who  selfishly 
spreads  his  own  sin  for  fear  of  being  himself  discounte- 
nanced and  deserted  in  his  vices, — if  any  such  cases  be  now 
before  me,  I  point  them  to  the  future  as  the  glorious  com- 
pensation for  all !  Such  are  on  the  borders  of  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  may  no  power  of  Satan,  may  no  influence  of  ex- 
ample, no  indolence  of  delay,  no  return  of  unbelief,  no  ad- 
vice of  evil  counsellors,  no  scorn  of  fools,  prevent  them  from 
achieving  the  passage!  They  may  be  scorned — What 
matter?  they  will  be  saved!  To  each  and  all  let  them 
answer  with  the  Apostle  who  endured  worse  than  they  can 
ever  be  called  to  endure, — "  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory 
save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the 
world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world !" 
Ashamed  of  Christ!  of  Him  who  has  redeemed  man's 
nature  from  wretchedness,  and  first  given  to  the  race  a 
security  of  immortality, — an  interest  in  an  eternal  world  I 
Ashamed  of  him  who  is  the  "express  image"  of  God,  "  in 
whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  "by 
whom  the  worlds  were  created,"  and  who  still  sustains  the 
worlds  from  annihilation  by  the  power  of  His  might. 
Ashamed  of  Christ !  of  Ilim  who  was  not  ashamed  to  endure 
all  the  bitterest  mockeries  of  sinners  for  my  sake ;  for  my 
sake  to  exile  Himself  for  long  years  from  the  immediate 
glories  of  Heaven,  for  my  sake  to  wander  among  the  lost 
and  ruined  of  the  earth,  and  still  for  my  sake  to  close  a 


SERM.  XIV.]     The  Folly  of  Moral  Cowardice. 


221 


life  of  sorrows  by  a  death  of  bodily  and  mental  torture ! 
Ashamed  of  Christ !  of  Him  who  rose  triumphant  from  the 
grave,  and  though  no  fleshly  eye  can  behold  Him,  even 
now  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  "  in  the  glory  of  the 
Father,"  yet  amid  all  his  glories,  pleads  for  my  sake  the 
obedience  of  Gethsemane  and  the  Sacrifice  of  Calvary ! . . . 
Oh,  may  many  here  be  enabled  to  return  such  an  answer 
as  this  to  the  calumnies  and  reviling  of  the  world  1  Happy 
are  they,  and  yet  more  happy  in  all  that  outward  unhappi- 
ness  which  fortifies  them  more  and  more  for  everlasting 
bliss !  Happy,  indeed,  are  they  who  thus  live,  confiding, 
that,  however  it  may  be  delayed,  a  time  shall  come  when 
the  truth  of  that  Scripture  shall  be  proved — "  Behold  I  lay 
in  Sion  a  stumbling-stone  and  a  rock  of  offence ;  and  who- 
soever believeth  on  him  shall  not  le  ashamed  f  (Isai.  viii. 
14 ;  Rom.  ix.  33.) 


19* 


r 


SERMON  XV. 

THE  WILL  OF  GOD  TOWARDS  HIS  CHILDREN. 

It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  little 
ones  should  perish. — Matt,  xviii.  14. 

It  is  in  behalf  of  those  "little  ones"  of  whom  the  Ee- 
deemer  spoke  that  his  minister  has  this  day  to  address  you ; 
the  "little  ones"  whom  the  Father  wills  not  to  perish. 
God  knows  I  can  say  with  the  deepest  sincerity  I  heartily 
wish  they  possessed  an  advocate  better  qualified  in  strength 
of  mind  and  of  body  to  plead  their  cause : — with  yet  deeper 
feeling  I  will  say — would  to  God  the  audience  who  hear 
me  were  all  sufficiently  exalted  in  the  simplicity  of  Chris- 
tian affection  to  be  independent  of  the  outward  and  acci- 
dental qualities  of  the  advocate, — sufficiently  partakers  of 
"  the  mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,"  to  feel  that  in  the 
simple  words  which  I  have  just  read  to  you  from  one  of 
Ills  heavenly  discourses,  there  lies  a  power  of  appeal, 
which,  as  no  art  should  be  permitted  to  lessen,  so  no  art 
ought  to  be  capable  of  heightening !  Oh,  beloved  Breth- 
ren !  rejoicing  as  I  do  to  see,  in  defiance  of  some  difficul- 
ties, so  many  of  you  assembled  to-day  upon  this  holy  work, 
I  cannot,  nevertheless,  forbear  to  put  it  to  you — how  shall 
we  answer  it  to  ourselves,  how  answer  it  to  God,  that  on 
any  occasion  like  this,  motives  of  various  shades  and 
kinds — for  I  will  not  take  upon  me  to  analyze  them — 
should  draw  us  together  to  prayer  and  to  the  word ;  and 


SEEM,  XV.]    The  Will  of  God  towards  his  Children.  223 

yet  that  the  same 'facilities  of  prayer,  the  same  eternal 
Gospel  fresh  from  the  lips  of  Jesus,  should  be  before  vis 
every  successive  day  of  our  lives, — yet  that  the  prayer 
should  so  often  be  cold  or  neglected, — the  Gospel  so  often 
unread,  because  the  one  must  be  offered  up  in  that  soli- 
tude of  the  heart  where  God  alone  is  present,  and  the 
other — the  gospel — is  presented  not  in  the  artificial  form 
of  a  preacher's  discourse,  but  in  the  naked  simplicity  of 
Christ's  own  divine  eloquence!  But,  dearest  Friends, 
whatever  be  the  spirit  which  has  prompted  us  to  assemble 
here  this  day,  there  is  a  Spirit  which  can  convert  all  our 
motives  into  impulses  of  blessedness:  may  He  at  this 
hour  enlio-hten  our  souls  to  a  full  intelliscence  of  that  word 
of  Truth  which  is  no  subject  of  momentary  display  or  of 
momentary  excitement,  but  the  very  law  of  life  whereby 
you,  and  I,  and  all  of  us,  shall  in  a  few  years  more  be 
tried, — and  on  the  love  or  the  neglect  of  which  are  poised 
the  destinies  of  an  eternity !  I  have  this  day  to  implore 
you  to  a  work  of  charity :  but  my  duty  extends  farther. 
In  remembering  these  children  of  the  Gospel  I  am  not  to 
forget  you.  I  am  not  to  forget  that  in  beseeching  you  to 
provide  for  the  souls  of  your  fellow-men,  I  am  also  to  call 
upon  you  to  provide  for  your  own !  I  am  not  to  forget 
that  in  asking  you  to  contribute  to  this  small  work  of 
occasional  charity,  I  am  also  pleading  to  immortal  souls 
for  their  own  salvation ;  entreating  spirits  born  for  eternity 
not  to  forget  their  own  high  heritage;  beseeching  my 
fellow-sinners  (so  many  of  whom  I  have  known  in  all  the 
intimacies  of  private  acquaintanceship)  to  forget  the  ad- 
vocate in  the  cause  he  pleads,  and  (even  under  a  minis- 
tration so  feeble)  to  "awake" — if  not  before,  yet  now  "to 
awake,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give 
them  light!"... For  such  a  purpose  I  need  not  go  beyond 
the  beautiful  passage  which  I  have  selected  for  our 
thoughts  upon  this  day.  I  chose  it  because  it  bears  an 
obvious  and  simple  reference  to  our  immediate  business  of 


224 


The  Will  of  God 


[SERM.  XV. 


educational  cliaritj ;  but,  in  truth,  it  bore  with  our  Lord, 
and  should  bear  with  us,  a  far  deeper  and  more  compre- 
hensive meaning. 

When  our  Divine  Instructor  declared  that  "  it  is  not  the 
will"  of  the  Father  "  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
perish" — He  understood  by  that  tender  title  something  far 
more  than  the  infancy  of  nature — he  meant  to  typify  the 
lonely  childhood  of  a  Christian  soul.  The  "little  ones"  of 
this  heavenly  Parent  are  they  who  with  the  gentle  depend- 
ence of  children  cling  to  him  as  their  sole  support,  and 
with  the  pure-minded  innocence  of  children  "  keep  them- 
selves unspotted  from  the  world."... In  this  view,  then,  let 
U.S  (invoking  the  directive  grace  of  God  upon  our  thoughts) 
dwell  for  a  while  upon  the  power  and  importance  of  the 
revelation  made  to  us  in  this  passage  of  the  words  of  Him 
"  in  whom  were  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  of 
knowledge."  (Col.  ii.  3.)  Eemember  from  what  lips  these 
momentous  words  fell :  remember  that  they  are  indeed  the 
words  of  Him  who  "knew  the  Father,"  for  He  was  one 
with  the  Father ;  and  whose  sole  object  in  uttering  them 
was  that  lie  might  sanctify  you,  in  common  with  thousands 
of  the  blessed,  to  a  meetness  for  the  inheritance  of  his  owa 
everlasting  kingdom ! 

The  text,  then,  answers  the  two  questions  that  most 
concern  mankind ;  it  declares  the  character  of  God^  and  it 
declares  the  character  and  qualifications  which  He  con- 
siders necessary  in  those  whom  He  wills  to  be  eternally 
happy. 

I.  To  any  human  being  capable  of  reflection,  and  be- 
lieving in  his  own  immortality,  there  can  be  no  subject  of 
so  vast  an  importance  as  the  real  nature  of  the  divine  charac- 
ter. Were  life  to  terminate  in  this  world,  could  we  indeed 
be  certain  (and  you  know  that  the  infidel  himself  cannot 
be  certain)  that  the  dust  which  is  all  that  remains  to  the 
eye,  of  departed  man,  comprised  all  his  immortality — could 
this  be  proved,  which  never  can  be  proved — there  might 


SEEM.  XV.] 


towards  his  Children. 


225 


then  be  some  poor  ground  for  carelessness  as  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  God  who  rules  so  pitiable  and  momentary  a 
scene.  "We  might  say  (as  millions  do  say — the  practical 
infidels  of  Christian  countries)  that  we  are  content  to  live 
as  our  fathers  have  Kved,  trusting  to  experience  and  to  our 
own  natural  sagacity  to  guide  us  through  the  circumstances 
in  which  nature  or  chance  has  placed  us : — much,  in  short, 
as  the  illiterate  classes  in  a  nation  trouble  themselves  little 
about  the  details,  or  the  machinery,  or  the  character,  of  the 

government  that  controls  them  But  if  it  be  certain,  or 

probable,  or  possible,  that,  after  the  brief  and  disturbed 
dream  of  this  life,  we  are,  every  one  of  us,  destined  to  pass 
into  a  scene  of  which,  apart  from  Revelation,  we  can  only 
form  faint  and  shadowy  conjectures ;  if  it  be  certain  that 
the  character  of  this  scene  must  depend  directly  upon  the 
character  of  the  Being  who  has  created  and  ever  governs 
it;  if — to  resume  the  comparison  I  just  employed — the  poor 
man  were  made  certain,  that,  whatever  be  the  tone  of  the 
goverument  under  which  he  now  lives,  he  must  shortly  pass 
into  a  country  where  his  whole  prospects  of  advancement 
depend  upon  his  suiting  himself  to  that  character,  whatever 
it  may  be — what  would  be  his,  what  ought  to  be  our,  intense 
curiosity  to  catch  even  a  glimpse  of  the  real  nature  of  the 
administration  on  which  we  are  all  thus  awfully  suspended ! 
how  earnestly  ought  we  to  inquire,  with  how  passionate  an 
interest  ought  we  to  ask  of  any  who  profess  to  know — 
what  is  the  real  disposition  of  this  mighty  Governor?  if 
we  are  in  his  favor,  how  shall  we  preserve  it?  if  so  miser- 
able as  to  have  lost  his  countenance,  how,  oh  how  shall  we 
appease  Him?. .  .1  pause,  and  ask, — how  many  in  this  assem- 
bly have  ever  serioushj  put  that  question  ?  how  many  have 
ever — have  once  in  their  whole  existence,  distinctly  asked 
of  themselves,  their  Bibles,  or  their  Minister, — what  is  the 
temper  of  the  God  upon  whom  they  are  to  rest  their  whole 
prospects  of  eternal  happiness  ?  Oh,  Brethren !  how  zealous 
is  the  curiosity  with  which  you  study  the  minutest  details 


226 


The  Will  of  God 


[SERM.  XV. 


of  ordinary  political  intelligence:  witli  how  earnest  a 
countenance  and  bow  animated  a  spirit  do  you  ask  and 
discuss  each  day's  report  of  the  progress  of  earthly  policies ! 
nay — there  are  names — mere  names  connected  with  such 
subjects,  which  were  I  now  to  pronounce  them,  would  at 
once  divide  this  assembly  into  hosts  of  eager  and  resolute 
partisans, — yet  here  you  have  before  you  the  politics  of  a 
universe,  a  government  that  stretches  from  eternity  to  eter- 
nity, an  administration  upon  which  every  soul  is  dependent 
for  an  everlasting  issue ;  we  go  among  you,  we  tell  you 
"the  news"  of  this  great  kingdom,  we  tell  you  of  the 
stability  of  its  laws,  the  wisdom  of  its  management,  the 
riches  of  its  resources — we  tell  you  of  that  revolution  in  its 
affairs  at  which  angels  themselves  shrink  in  astonishment, 
that  revolution  which  sent  the  monarch  of  a  boundless 
empire  beyond  the  stars,  to  die  by  the  hands  of  his  own 
rebellious  subjects,  that  no  soul  here  should  perish ;  we  tell 
you  all  this, — we  repeat  it, — we  reiterate  it, — you  know 
that  it  is  all  true,  that  prophecies  and  miracles,  and  the 
tortures  of  martyred  thousands  are  pledges  of  its  truth, — 
what  then  ?  you  listen  in  silence,  or  impatience,  or  listen 
not  at  all, — and  turn  to  devote  the  faculties  that  God  meant 
to  contemplate  the  mysteries  of  the  policy  of  a  universe, 
to  the  politics  of  nations  contending  for  a  few  fields  a 
thousand  miles  away  from  you,  or  to  the  polities,  almost  as 
exalted,  of  the  village  and  the  neighborhood  at  your  feet ! 

Let  me  suppose  you,  however, — may  God's  inworking 
Spirit  verify  the  supposition ! — let  me  suppose  you  alive  to 
the  tremendous  importance  of  discovering  God's  real  cha- 
racter and  purposes  about  you,  thrown  as  you  are  on  his 
mercy  for  eternity.  Now — not  to  be  minute — there  are 
two  obvious  sources  from  which  you  may  have  a  chance  of 
deriving  such  intelligence : — the  tcorld  around  you  (as  far 
as  your  experience  of  it  extends),  and  the  express  revelation 
of  God  Himself,  if  such  a  revelation  exist.  Regard  then 
the  former  of  these  sources.    Alas — its  answer  is  not  only 


SERM.  XV.]  towards  his  Children.  227 


precarious  from  our  very  limited  knowledge ;  but  even  as 
far  as  it  goes,  clouded  and  comfortless.  In  a  world  lost  and 
ruined  as  ours  is, — a  world  which,  perhaps,  among  the 
infinity  of  worlds  that  occupy  the  depths  of  space,  is  the 
only  one  into  which  the  pestilence  of  sin  has  entered, — in 
such  a  world  there  is  much  to  darken  our  apprehensions  of 
the  essential  goodness  of  God.  The  terrible  prominence 
of  evil  around  us,  the  afflictions  that  encompass  and  harass 
even  the  best,  the  facility  of  ruin — the  difficulty  of  recovery 
— the  uncertainty  of  all, — these  are  the  signs  and  tokens 
of  (as  it  would  appear)  a  government  of  terror  and  of  ven- 
geance,— a  government  in  which  severity  is  the  rule  and 
mercy  the  exception.  To  those  who  patiently  regard  the 
scene  around  them,  it  must  always  indeed  be  evident  that  the 
Euler  of  the  world  might  have  made  all  mankind  far  more 
unhappy  than  He  has  made  any  of  them  ;  but  yet  it  must 
also  be  quite  as  evident  that  it  was  in  His  power — as  mere 
power — to  have  made  them  far  more  Jiappy  likewise.  And 
unfortunately,  it  is  just  in  proportion  as  sorrow  presses 
heavily  upon  the  heart, — that  is,  just  in  proportion  as  con- 
solation is  needed, — that  to  the  uninstructed  mind  the  dark- 
ness of  God's  dispensations  appears  terrific,  for  we  all  have 
experienced  how  the  mind  reduces  everything  to  its  own 
color :  that  as  the  Spirit  of  God  has  said  that  "to  the  pure 
all  things  are  pure,"  so  to  the  sorrowful  all  things  arc  sad, 
— until  to  the  weary  and  despairing  mourner — do  I  speak  to 
none  who  can  sympathize  in  this? — the  world  blackens  into 
one  tremendous  midnight,  and  God  himself  seems  but  to 
assume  the  features  and  attitude  of  an  Almighty  Avenger ! 

If  such  be  "  the  faint  and  uncertain  sound"  with  which 
the  world  answers  to  our  demand  upon  it  to  reveal  the 
character  of  its  Maker, — we  must  then  turn  for  instruction 
to  a  less  distorting  medium  for  the  light  of  Divine  truth — 
to  the  express  declaration  of  that  God  Ilimsclf  in  his  Word, 
I  suppose  you,  of  course,  to  be,  at  least  speculatively, 
believers  in  the  Divine  authority  of  that  Word.    I  address 


228 


The  Will  of  God 


[SERM.  XV. 


professing  Christians.  I  suppose  you  to  have  learned  the 
few  and  simple  proofs  by  which  for  eighteen  hundred  years 
it  has  silenced  infidelity ;  and  established  itself  to  be  the 
very  image  and  portraiture  of  the  mind  of  God.  Let  us, 
then,  examine  the  original  by  the  iroage ! 

I  take  my  stand  upon  the  text  which  the  business  of  this 
day  has  put  before  us.  Ilundreds  crowd  upon  my  mind, 
but  to  see  clearly  we  must  contract  our  circle  of  vision ; 
and  this  holds  the  essence  of  the  gospel  character  of  God. 
Yes — the  world  may  robe  our  God  in  the  terrors  of  an 
Avenger,  and  Revelation  itself  may  confirm  but  too  cer- 
tainly the  truth  that  He  will  avenge ;  misfortune  may 
darken  the  spirit  and  dim  its  prospects  of  heaven;  the 
traces  of  ruin  (moral  and  physical)  that  everywhere  en- 
compass us,  may  affright; — but  as  long  as  Faith  enables 
the  trusting  Christian  to  hold  in  bright  remembrance  i/iis 
publication  of  the  will  of  the  God  of  all  this  apparent  evil, 
that  Christian  cares  not.  "It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
perish."  Here,  then — casting  aside  all  the  dark  and  trou- 
bled speculations  which  partial  views  of  this  world  may 
create — here  is  the  character  of  the  God  with  whom  you 
have  to  deal !  The  whole  mystery  of  Providence  is  not 
indeed  solved ;  trials,  uncertainties,  evils  apparent  or  real, 
are  left  as  they  were ;  but  through  them  all  the  eye  of 
Faith  (seeing  all  by  the  light  of  promise)  penetrates,  and 
still  beholds,  presiding  over  the  disorders  of  the  world,  a 
Law  of  Love — even  the  Power  of  that  God,  who,  armed 
with  terrors  for  those  who  wilfully  despise  Him,  yet  wills 
not  that  one  trusting  believer — one  of  the  "  little  ones"  of 
His  own  family  of  faith,  should  ever  perish  from  the  way 
of  life.  And  thus  it  is  that  our  text  answers  the  first 
question — the  tremendous  question  as  to  the  character  of 
God.  There  is  such  a  doom  as  "  perishing," — it  is  men- 
tioned in  the  text ;  there  is  such  a  law  as  God's  decreeing 
that  the  guilty  should  perish, — it  is  intimated  in  the  text ; 


SERM.  XV.] 


towards  his  Children. 


229 


hut  there  is  of  tlie  same  God  a  determinatiou  and  a  purpose, 
tliat  those  who  love  Him  should  be  His,  and  His  for  ever — 
for  that  is  the  direct  object  of  the  whole  to  declare ! 

II.  With  such  a  Grod  as  this  who  would  not  rather  be  in 
alliance  than  in  warfare  ?  Here  then  is  a  second  point  of 
vast  moment.  I  told  you  that  the  text  declared  more  than 
the  character  of  God.  It  declares  the  character  and  qualifi- 
cations of  those  whom  He  selects  as  His  chosen  people. 
Would  you  belong  to  that  bright  and  holy  band  ?  Have 
you  indeed  no  ambition  to  secure  a  place  among  the  re- 
deemed people  of  God- — among  those  who  from  age  to  age 
have  passed  from  the  grave  to  glory,  and  who  now, 
witnesses  of  that  truth  in  heaven  for  Avhich  they  toiled 
and  suffered  on  earth,  are  perhaps  contemplating  your 
career,  and  sympathizing  in  your  trials  ?  What  avails  it 
that  God  should  publish  himself  as  a  God  who  wills  the 
happiness  of  every  creature,  if  the  obstinate  perversity  of 
our  own  hearts  render  us  deaf  to  all  his  overtures  of  mercy, 
and  generate  a  character  to  which  it  is  absolutely  incon- 
sistent with  the  majestic  harmony  of  all  His  own  high 
attributes  that  He  should  be  able  to  extend  favor  or  pro- 
tection ! 

What,  then,  is  the  character  which  the  text  supposes  ? 
The  Father  wills  not  that  "  the  little  ones"  should  perish, 
— the  confiding  and  childlike  dependents  on  his  mercy. 
The  humble  in  heart,  then,  are  they  on  whom  the  special 
power  of  the  promise  rests.... Here  is  the  marvel  and  the 
mystery  of  this  Gospel  which  wc  preach  !  Here  is  that 
tremendous  pass  at  which  it  breaks  company  with  the 
whole  throng  of  this  world's  daily  maxims !  Here  is  the 
point  where  you  are  to  examine  to  ivhich  train  and  pro- 
cession do  you  belong, — the  procession  which  is  gorgeous 
with  all  this  world's  glories  and  animated  by  its  pride,  or 
that  lowly  company  of  the  saints  whose  glory  is  to  carry 
the  standard  of  the  cross,  and  whose  pride  is  to  be  ever 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  humility  of  Him  who  died  upon 
VOL.  II.— 20 


230 


The  Will  of  God 


[seem,  XV. 


it!  Self-exaltation  is  tlac  master-principle  of  tlic  world; 
self-annihilation  must  be  yours,  or  you  can  never  hope  to 
see  the  rewarding  smile  of  Ilim  who  has  declared  that  "he 
that  humblcth  himself  shall  be  exalted:" — that  "the  poor 
in  spirit  are  blessed,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;" 
that  though  He  be  "  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth 
eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy,"  yet  He  "dwells  with  him 
that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit 
of  the  humble,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite 
ones." 

This  awful  truth, — that  between  the  world's  glory  and 
God's  glory  there  is  a  variance  which  no  art  of  self-delusion 
can  reconcile ;  that  no  human  heart  can  idolize  the  one  and 
.truly  adore  the  other  ;  that  if  you  will  indeed  struggle  for 
the  eternal  prize  you  must  silence  every  pulse  of  worldly 
ambition,  tear  from  the  soul  every  longing  desire  for  the 
miserable  excitements  that  consume  away  your  years, — 
and  receiving  a  new  nature,  cast  yourselves  in  trembling 
hope  and  all  the  lowliness  of  infancy,  as  "  little  ones"  at  the 
feet  of  God — this  seems  to  many  "  a  hard  doctrine" — "  Who 
can  bear  it  ?"  To  some  it  is  "  enthusiasm"  (the  world  never 
wants  a  name  to  stigmatize  truth  with), — to  some  it  is 
"fanaticism," — to  some  again  it  is  "hypocrisy."  Brethren  1 
we  cannot  pare,  and  shape,  and  fashion,  Christianity  to  suit 
any  man  or  body  of  men.  It  is  the  unalterable  decree  of 
God  as  promulgated  in  his  Word,  that  the  sinful  nature  can 
never  behold  the  sinless  glories  of  His  kingdom ;  that  it  is 
only  as  justified  by  the  humble  faith  which  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  these  "little  ones"  of  the  divine  family  of  whom 
we  are  speaking,  that  man  can  enter  into  life ;  that  this 
humble  faith  works  a  change  in  the  whole  tenor  of  the  life 
and  habits,  so  that  the  believer  is  one  who  walks  in  a  new 
world,  encompassed  by  new  objects,  and  seeing  by  new  and 
gifted  organs ;  that  to  the  contemplation  of  such  a  one,  all 
the  boasted  glories  of  this  world  of  a  few  seasons,  are  a 
withered  and  melancholy  pomp,  for  to  his  vision, — whether 


SERM,  XV.] 


towards  his  Children. 


231 


in  prosperity  or  affliction,  in  business  or  retirement,  in 
crowds  or  in  solitude, — there  is  ever  present  a  glory  before 
which  the  loftiest  mockery  of  greatness  the  earth  ever 
offered,  is  pale  and  colorless — even  that  glory  which  the 
dying  martyr  saw  when  he  exclaimed,  "  Behold,  I  see  the 
heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the  right 
hand  of  God !"  (Acts  vii.  56.) 

I  cannot  now  pause  to  reason  the  matter  more  minutely. 
Do  you  believe — in  spite  of  all  the  sneers  of  a  Satan- 
prompted  world — that  this  is  indeed  the  better  course — to 
join  yourselves  in  humility  of  faith  to  the  little  family  of 
the  children  of  God  ?  "Why  delay,  then,  an  hour  to  resolve 
upon  the  change  which  is  to  change  an  eternity  ?  Have 
you  so  little  experience  of  the  seductions  of  the  world,  that 
you  think  their  weakness  admits  of  delay  ?  Or  rather,  do 
you  not  know  from  old  experience,  that  the  terrible  proba- 
bilities are, — thJife  many  here,  now  moved,  it  may  be,  by  the 
terrors  of  the  warning,  will  not  have  passed  from  this 
church — and  entered  once  more  upon  the  world — for  one 
hour,  when  old  habits  will  resume  their  course,  old  com- 
panions their  power,  this  admonition  vanish  as  a  dream, — 
or  rather  let  me  say,  the  severed  dream  of  life  will  reunite 
again,  the  slumber  recommence,  and  sink  as  deep  as  if  it 
had  never  been  broken  ?  And  must  it  indeed  be  so  ?  Must 
eternal  spirits  be  lost  in  the  midst  of  all  the  richest  graces 
of  God  —  his  word — his  sacraments — his  services — the 
prayers  of  his  faithful  people?  No — I  will  dare  to  hope 
for  better  results.  I  have  told  you  of  the  character  of  the 
God  who  is  to  judge  you  and  me, — how  that  He  is  revealed 
in  the  Gospel  as  one  who  waits  for  you,  who  beseeches  you, 
who  wills  not  that  the  "  little  ones  should  perish  ;"  I  have 
told  you  of  the  humble  holiness  which  must  form  the  clia- 
racter  of  a  child  of  his  family  ;  I  have  implored  of  you  to 
remember  the  awful  necessity  of  this  mighty  change,  and 
the  still  greater  awfulness  of  the  short  uncertain  period 
allowed  to  effect  it:  and  T  rcill  hope  that  all  this  is  not  in 


232 


The  Will  of  God 


[seem.  XV. 


vain !  It  may  be  that  anotlicr  time  may  come  when  we 
shall  rejoice  over  even  this  morning's  humble  labor!  Yes, 
it  may  be,  and  such  hopes  are  among  the  few  earthly  con- 
solations of  the  Christian  minister's  course — that  in  that 
holier  world  where  the  redeemed  of  Christ  are  hereafter  to 
meet, — where  friendships  more  durable  than  this  world's 
are  united, — and  "  the  communion  of  saints"  is  complete, 
— some  one  of  those  that  are  now  before  me  may  recur  to 
this  very  occasion  as  one  upon  Avhich  for  the  first  time  the 
heart  was,  under  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God,  touched  for 
higher  things, — and  from  which  it  retained  the  impression, 
until,  after  prayer  and  anxiety,  faith  had  at  length  effec- 
tively laid  hold  iipon  the  incarnate  God  of  Calvary,  heaven 
became  a  known  and  felt  reality,  and  the  Christian's 
triumph  was  secured  for  eternity.  Would  to  God  it  might 
be  so :  deeply  should  I  rejoice  at  the  message  which  brought 
me  here  this  morning  to  invite  my  fellow-sinners  to  that 
God  who  will  not  have  one  trusting  believer  disappointed 
of  his  hope  of  immortal  blessedness ! 

But  I  must  pass  from  these  exhortations  to  the  more 
immediate  business  of  this  morning.  I  must  leave  them 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  to  preach  to  your  hearts.  Re- 
member it  is  not  that  I  would  waive  them,  now,  or  ever ! 
I  had  rather  (and  I  take  upon  me  to  say,  that,  with  all 
their  ardor  for  its  welfare,  the  managers  of  this  charity 
had  rather)  that  one  soul  purchased  by  the  blood  of  Christ 
were  really  aroused  to  its  high  calling  by  these  words — 
weak  as  they  are — than  that  uncounted  thousands  were 
cast  into  its  treasury !  But  the  more  direct  purpose  of 
our  meeting  calls  me  to  provide  for  it ;  the  young  disciples 
of  Christ  who  rest  upon  your  liberality  require  me  not  to 
forget  them;  the  cause  of  pure  and  scriptural  education 
bids  me  remember  its  demands. 

I  am  here  this  day  to  ask  of  you  to  support  the  claims 
of  150  pupils  receiving  in  this  place  under  careful  guardian- 


SERM.  XV.]  toivards  his  Children.  233 

ship  the  means  of  an  independent  livelihood  in  this  world, 
— the  means  of  securing  an  everiasting  inheritance  in  the 
next.  I  am  here  to  ask  of  you,  rich  and  prosperous  and 
enlightened,  to  step  between  these  poor  children  and  the 
chances  of  temporal  and  eternal  ruin.  I  am  here  to  beseech 
you — whatever  be  your  denomination  of  Christianity — to 
respect  and  support  establishments,  where  those  Scriptures 
which  we  all  in  common  acknowledge  to  be  the  direct 
effusion  of  God's  holy  Spirit  and  the  unerring  test  of 
religious  truth — for  to  the  Scriptures  all  alike  appeal — are 
made  the  great  basis  of  instruction  in  the  law  of  eternal 
life. . .  Those  who  have  had  but  the  poor  lessons  of  worldly 
experience,  know  how  dependent  are  the  fortunes  of  life 
upon  its  commencement :  they  know  that  those  lives  of 
crime  and  those  deaths  by  legal  punishment  which  pollute 
the  records  of  our  unhappy  country  and  which  curse  its 
beauty  as  with  a  pestilence — that  these  are  directly  trace- 
able to  the  wasted  summers  of  boyhood — to  our  peasant 
youth  without  education,  and  to  their  education  (when  it 
comes) — without  religion  I  These  are  the  maxims  of  the 
commonest  ivorldly  prudence.  A  statesman  who  was  an 
Atheist  would  prefer  that  the  people  he  had  to  control 
were  believers  in  God  and  His  futurity ;  a  landlord  who 
was  himself  the  slave  of  profligacy  and  of  folly,  would  yet 
prefer  that  his  tenantry  were  a  moral  race,  and  would 
gladly  give  to  the  people  the  virtue  he  himself  rejects! 
Such  is  the  everlasting  word — the  eternal  bridal — which 
God  himself  sanctified  of  old,  between  Holiness  and  Happi- 
ness, that  even  in  this  world  the  way  of  its  peace  is  often 
the  way  of  God ;  and  "  righteousness,"  still  as  ever,  "  ex- 
alteth  a  nation."  And  thus  taking  the  matter  upon  the 
lowest  grounds, — looking  upon  you,  not  as  the  elect  of 
Christ,  but  as  men  concerned,  for  your  own  sakes,  in  the 
welfare  of  the  thousands  who  every  year  swarm  into  life 
around  you — not  as  Christians,  but  as  Irishmen  and  Irish- 
women— to  redeem  your  country  from  the  pollution  of 

20* 


234 


The  Will  of  God. 


[SERM.  XV. 


blood, — from  being  the  anathema  of  the  civilized  universe 
— I  call  upon  you  this  morning,  largely  and  liberally,  to 
support  an  institution  that  would  educate  its  starving  and 
shivering  poor ! ...  Do  I  desire  to  address  you  upon  narrow 
or  exclusive  principles  ?  God  knows  I  do  not.  Shall  they 
be  Romanists  or  shall  they  be  Protestants  ?  I  say — make 
them  Christians!  Call  them  by  what  name  you  please, 
but  teach  them — oh  teach  them,  from  the  full  measure  of 
God's  own  pure  and  holy  volume — unclouded,  undimin- 
ished, unmutilated — that  man's  life  is  precious  in  the  sight 
of  God— that  souls  are  indeed  immortal  and  destined  for 
immortal  recompenses — that  the  blood  of  the  murdered 
calls  to  heaven  for  vengeance ; — teach  them  that  the  God 
who  sent  Ilis  own  and  only  one  to  die  for  mankind,  is  no 
God  of  a  party  or  a  faction,  but  a  God  of  love,  and  who 
would  have  all  mankind  brothers  in  love ;  teach  them  this 
— show  them  how  all  the  law  of  Christ  and  the  story  of 
Christ  declares  such  lessons  and  exemplifies  them ;  be  sure 
that  in  heart  and  soul  they  understand  it,  and  I  care  not 
what  you  term  them,  in  what  division  of  the  catalogue  of 
party  you  class  them ;  I  only  Icnow,  that  so  trained  they  are 
trained  to  be  "  the  children  of  God,  and  heirs  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven !" 

Here  then  is  the  simple  story  with  which  I  am  this  day 
attempting  to  interest  you.  It  needs  no  artificial  colorings. 
A  hundred  and  fifty  eternal  souls  dependent  for  their  gui- 
dance to  immortality  upon  your  wish  to  secure  it  to  them  1 
Oh,  surely,  of  all  branches  of  charity  that  which  most  truly 
approaches  the  celestial  charity  of  Christ  Himself,  is  charity 
to  the  souls  of  mankind — charity  of  Education.  Were  the 
bodies  of  the  starving  poor  to  perish  in  heaps  at  your  doors 
while  you  were  revelling  within,  you  would  indeed  be 
criminals  before  God ;  yet  even  this  criminality  is  not  equal 
to  that  of  the  professing  Christian,  who,  with  the  sacred 
words  of  divine  love  ever  upon  his  lips,  can  see  around 


SERM.  XV.]  towards  his  Children. 


235 


him  tlie  undying  souls  of  his  fellow-meu  in  training  for  ruin, 
and  yet  not  cast  one  coin  (beyond  what  shame  extorts)  into 
the  purse  that  Christian  charity  is  collecting,  to  guide  those 
souls  to  salvation !  Can  you  indeed  believe  that  to  the 
never-fading  glories  of  God's  right-hand  there  is  but  one 
way ;  that  that  "  way"  is  Christ  Jesus  (as  He  has  declared) ; 
that  that  way  cannot  be  known  unless  it  be  exhibited ;  that 
it  cannot  be  exhibited  unless  you  yourselves  step  forward 
to  invite  ?  I  will  add  no  more.  May  the  Spirit  of  God 
take  up  the  cause  of  these  children  in  the  hearts  of  each  of 
you !  May  He  enlarge  your  feelings — strengthen  your 
liberality — and  in  Ilis  own  glorious  hour  reward  you  in 
the  everlasting  kingdom  of  the  just  in  glory! 


SEKMON  XVI. 


STRENGTH  AND  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

(Preached  at  Leeds  Parish  Church,  Nov.  21,  1841.) 

The  Lord  hath  founded  Zion,  and  the  poor  of  His  people  shall  trust  in  it. — 
IsAiAU  xiv.  32. 

Such,  Bretliren,  are  the  encouragements  that  consoled 
the  ancient  City  of  God  in  the  day  of  her  trouble.  Ha- 
rassed by  her  rude  neighbors  of  Philistia,  her  garrisons 
already  stormed,  her  armies  scattered  before  the  idol-wor- 
shippers, her  own  very  sanctuary  threatened  with  violation, 
she  was  bade  remember  her  Eternal  King,  and  take  comfort 
in  the  thought  of  that  watchful  Guardian  who  sooner  or 
later  would  assuredly  avenge  her  wrongs.  Often  was  she 
taught  the  same  lesson ;  and  often  in  despite  of  her  own 
froward  and  unbelieving  heart  was  the  prediction  realized. 
The  Lord  still  "  loved  the  gates  of  Zion  ;"  the  streams  of 
his  holy  "  river  still  made  glad  the  city  of  God;"  and  He 
was  "known  in  her  palaces  for  a  refuge."  But  a  gloomier 
hour  at  length  arrived.  Even  divine  patience  has  its 
limits ;  and  the  last  dread  crime  of  Zion  could  only  be  ex- 
piated in  her  ruin.  Blood  had  flowed  beneath  her  hands, 
every  drop  of  which  was  worth  a  universe ;  and  she  had 
invoked  its  curse  upon  her  own  head  and  the  head  of  her 
children.  And  now  behold — in  the  fearful  words  of  her 
oAvn  prophets — "  the  lion  is  come  up  fi'om  his  thicket,  and 


SERM.  XVI.]    Strength  ayid  Mission  of  the  Church.  237 

the  destroyer  of  the  Gentiles  is  on  his  way ;" — "  Jerusalem 
i-s  ruined  and  Judah  is  fallen;  because  their  tongue  and 
their  doings  are  against  the  Lord,  to  provoke  the  eyes  of 
his  glory."  But  what?  is  this  the  City  of  which  such 
glorious  things  are  spoken — that  "  the  Highest  himself 
should  establish  her — that  she  should  not  be  moved?" 
Where  are  His  mighty  promises  of  perpetuity  ?  Where  is 
that  foundation  which  no  power  should  ever  shake,  that 
Zion  in  whom  "  the  poor  of  his  people  were  to  trust  /" 

Brethren,  look  around  you,  and  you  behold  the  evidences 
of  its  existence,  and  of  the  eternal  faithfulness  of  Him  who 
LS  pledged  to  its  immortality.  A  greater  than  Zion  inherits 
her  name ;  a  greater  than  Zion  bore  it  in  the  far-reaching 
scope  of  the  prophetic  vision.  That  "  city  of  the  great 
King"  was  but  the  perishable  emblem  of  a  "  City  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God."  It  is  true,  she  was  honored 
by  His  symbolic  Presence,  and  sanctified  by  his  sacred 
worship ;  it  is  true  that  for  ages  she  alone  in  a  world  of 
darkness  held  the  precious  lamp  of  His  truth : — but  what 
are  these  characters  of  honor  to  hers  whose  every  living 
stone  is  quickened  with  His  indwelling  energy,  whose  wor- 
ship is  no  more  in  type  and  shadow,  but  in  spirit  and  sub- 
stance, whose  preaching  and  teaching,  no  longer  shrouded 
in  obscurity  and  limited  to  a  corner  of  the  earth,  spreads 
over  all  lands,  embraces  the  whole  family  of  mankind,  and 
makes  even  the  course  of  that  sun  whose  "  going  forth  is 
from  the  end  of  the  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the  ends 
of  it,  and  from  whose  heat  there  is  nothing  hid,"  a  faint 
image  of  the  power  with  which  she  diffuses  through  all 
nations  "the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." 

What  destiny  God  may  yet  have  in  store  for  his  ancient 
people  it  is  not  for  us  to  fix  with  precision ;  but  this  of  un- 
broken perpetuity  as  his  earthly  dwelling-place  is  plainly 
not  theirs.  Few  candid  students  of  prophecy  can  indeed 
doubt  that  a  great  destiny  is  yet  reserved  for  the  earthly 


238 


Strength  and  Mission  [serm.  XVI. 


Israel ;  that  if  the  fall  of  Israel  brought  the  beginning  of 
blessings  to  the  human  race,  the  restoration  of  Israel  is  to 
be  the  means  of  their  consummation ;  that  God  will  yet 
bind  together  the  two  severed  dispensations,  making  them 
give  and  receive  mutual  lustre;  will  vindicate  "  the  Law" 
and  yet  more  "the  Prophets" — but  most  of  all  that  Christ 
to  whose  final  triumph  they  and  their  nation  shall 
again  minister — not  in  rejection  but  acceptance,  not  in 
guilt  but  glory.  Still,  in  even  this  high  destiny,  all  the 
fulness  of  prophetic  announcement  is  scarcely  realized. 
The  unbroken  continuance  of  Presence  and  Blessing  so 
often  predicted,  has  in  their  instance  been  fearfully  inter- 
rupted. Israel  after  the  flesh  is  referred  to  the  distant 
future  for  her  glories ;  we  must  then  sometimes  seek  a  Zioa 
for  David  and  Isaiah  whose  glories  are  present,  abiding, 
perpetual.  In  that  element  of  His  inheritance  the  spiritual 
Israel  takes  the  place  of  the  natural;  the  New  Jerusalem 
of  the  old  ;  the  mount  Zion  which  includes  "  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,"  of  that  which  bore 
but  the  children  of  unhappy  Judah.  And  thus,  "  even  that 
which  was  made  glorious  had  no  glory  in  this  respect,  by 
reason  of  the  glory  which  excelleth.  For  if  that  which  was 
done  away  was  glorious,  much  more  that  which  remaineth 
is  glorious."  (2  Cor.  iii.  10,  11.) 

Why  do  I  impress  these  things  upon  you,  Brethren  ? 
Because  I  would  gladly  lead  you  to  feel  the  importance  of 
your  position  as  the  members  of  this  divine  Society — the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,  in  order  that  you  may  feel 
the  community  of  interest  which  unites  each  such  member 
with  all,  and  may  recognize  the  claim  that  every  province 
of  the  great  empire  of  Christ  possesses  upon  the  affectionate 
consideration  of  the  rest.  I  am  here  to  speak  of  the  great 
necessities  of  a  sister  Church ;  of  her  labors  in  the  cause 
which  you  love,  of  her  difficulties  with  which,  I  can  scarcely 
doubt,  you  will  be  prepared  to  sympathize.  Something  of 
such  matters  I  must  say ; — but  though  charged  with  her 


SERM,  XVI.] 


of  the  Church. 


239 


interests,  I  can  scarcely  in  this  place  think  of  entering  into 
minute  details  of  her  position.  Another  opportunity  will, 
Avith  the  divine  permission,  offer  for  that.  This  is  the  place 
for  the  broad  principles  of  the  truth;  and  I  know  well,  that 
if  you  but  feel  them  as  they  deserve  to  be  felt,  the  rest  will 
follow  of  itself  Once  learn  to  love  Christ  in  his  Church, 
and  the  Church  as  in  Christ,  and  every  source  and  channel 
of  charity  to  his  destitute  members  will  spontaneously 
open. 

Mark,  then,  what  the  text  affirms.  "  The  Lord  hath 
founded  Zion ;"  this  is  the  guarantee  of  His  love  and  her 
stability ; — "  the  poor  of  his  people  shall  trust  in  it" — or 
as  the  margin  has  it — "  shall  betake  themselves  unto  it" — 
this  is  one  purpose  of  her  divine  mission  on  earth, — the 
care,  the  teaching,  the  education,  the  guidance  of  the  poor. 

I.  The  strongest,  most  fundamental  title  of  protection 
is  Creation,  Even  among  ourselves,  no  one  frames  an 
object  in  order  to  destroy  it ;  he  who  makes,  makes  that  he 
may  preserve.  A  man  has  mixed  up  his  own  labor  with 
his  own  manufacture ;  it  becomes  a  portion,  as  it  were,  of 
his  being;  and  to  destroy  the  immediate  creature  of  his 
own  hands  becomes  a  sort  of  indirect  suicide.  It  is  thus 
that  men  justly  delight  in  achieving  those  lasting  perform- 
ances which  perpetuate  themselves  after  death ;  it  is  thus — 
(and  standing  in  this  noble  structure  I  can  urge  the  concep- 
tion with  all  the  vividness  of  reality) — it  is  thus  that  good 
men  rejoice  in  the  opportunity  of  accomplishing  works  that 
shall  endure  when  their  own  course  is  over,  and  multiply 
the  blessedness  which  they  are  no  longer  at  hand  to  diffuse. 
These  permanent  monuments  of  usefulness,  are,  as  it  were, 
the  heirs  of  their  purposes,  the  executors  of  their  benevo- 
lence ;  and  silently  represent  for  them  their  plans,  their 
hopes,  their  desires,  to  posterity.  And  if  this  be  so  in 
human  nature,  shall  there  be  nothing  to  compare  with  it  in 
the  Divine  ?  God,  indeed,  who  is  eternal,  can  require  no 
successor  to  whom  to  devise  His  purposes  of  love  ;  but  all 


2-iO 


Strength  and  Mission 


[SERM.  XVI. 


tlic  claims  tliat  "  tlic  tiling  framed"  can  have  on  "liini  tluit 
framed  it,"  hold  witli  tenfold  force,  wbon  the  object  is  not, 
as  in  our  liuniblcr  works,  the  mere  apposition  of  pre-exist- 
ing materials  in  which  nothing  is  ours  except  the  order  of 
arrangement,  but  is  itself,  alike  in  matter  and  in  form,  the 
direct  offspring  of  His  own  inexhaiistiblc  Power  and  Good- 
ness. It  is  hence  that  the  Creation — wherever  the  Creation 
is  incorrupt — looks  with  trust  and  confidence  to  the  Parent 
of  all;  knows  by  instinctive  conviction,  that  what  He 
called  into  being  He  is  resolved  to  preserve  in  being; 
boldly  denies  the  natural  possibility  of  absolute  annihila- 
tion in  any  region  of  His  universal  empire ;  and  though  it 
admit,  that  when  evil — the  only  thing  that  God  has  not 
made — intrudes,  weakness  accompanies  it,  and  that  rebel- 
lion dissolves  the  implicit  compact  between  the  Father  of 
holiness  and  His  offspring, — yet  even  here,  sees  in  all  the 
partial  changes  of  sin  and  death  only  the  working  out  of 
some  more  extensive  and  immutable  plan,  in  which  evil 
itself  shall  yet  be  shown  to  have  performed  some  merely 
subordinate  part,  and,  as  an  unconscious  or  reluctant  slave, 
to  have  contributed,  on  the  grand  balance  of  the  whole,  to 
the  ultimate  glory  of  the  One  Supreme  unchangeable  God. 

Thus  is  the  Maker  bound  to  the  Made;  thus  is  Creation 
in  itself  a  presumptive  title  to  protection.  And  it  is  abund- 
antly plain,  that  the  strength  of  such  a  bond  will  ever  in- 
crease with  the  toil  expended  on  the  object  produced. 
Your  own  manufacturer  will  tell  you  that  the  result  be- 
comes more  precious  with  the  capital  invested ;  that  the 
hopes  and  interests  of  the  artist  are  more  and  more  inter- 
woven with  the  work  in  proportion  to  the  time  and  the 
thought  and  the  labor  and  the  expense  its  construction  has 
involved.  As  he  gazes  on  the  consummate  result,  it  repre- 
sents to  his  mind  the  whole  mass  of  these  the  elements  of 
its  formation  ;  he  feels  that  more  of  himself  is  contained 
in  it,  and  he  identifies  its  success  and  its  reputation  with 
his  own.    Shall  we  venture  to  apply  this  also  to  the 


SERM.  XVI.] 


of  the  Church. 


241 


Supreme  Architect  of  tlie  -world  ?  We  can  scarcely  do  so. 
The  Scripture  in  condescension  to  our  capacities  has  repre- 
sented the  Omnipotent  as  resting  from  His  six  days'  labor ; 
but  the  same  Scripture  has  taught  us  that  such  a  phrase  is 
but  a  figurative  one  as  applied  to  the  sublime  repose  of  a 
Creator,  who  "  worketh  hitherto,"  and  merely  expresses 
the  cessation  of  a  particular  form  of  His  ever  active  energies, 
— when  it  speaks  of  Him  as  "  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the 
earth,"  who  "  fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary."  Are  we  then 
to  admit  that  here  no  claim  remains  ;  that  this  most  touch- 
ing ground  of  protective  mercy  is  inapplicable  to  the  God 
of  the  Bible  ?  Not  so.  He  has  so  provided  that  this  too 
should  be  an  argument  of  our  undoubting  dependence ; 
unable  to  know  pain  and  weariness  as  God,  He  has  become 
Man  that  He  might  do  so ;  and  He  who  without  the  lifting 
of  an  arm  called  a  Universe  into  being,  has  shed  His  own 
life  in  agony  to  create  a  Church ! 

Behold,  then,  how  as  His  own  "God  loved  the  world f 
how  as  not  only  His  own,  but  His  own  in  pain  and  anguish, 
and  endeared  to  His  inmost  heart  for  ever  as  such,  God 
hath  loved  His  Church.  He  spoke  to  bid  the  one — He 
died  to  make  the  other  exist.  The  Lord  hath  founded 
Zion — so  too  hath  He  the  world ;  but  this  (as  Jericho  of  old) 
was  "founded  in  the  death  of  a  first-horn  the  streams  that 
make  glad  this  city  of  God  are  the  water  and  the  blood 
that  flowed  from  the  pierced  side  of  the  Founder.  When 
He  beholds  His  Church  he  sees  in  it  the  monument  of  His 
own  inexpressible  sorrows ;  as  mothers  are  said  to  love 
with  special  tenderness  the  child  whose  birth  was  one  of 
peculiar  anguish  and  peril,  surely  so  docs  He  feels  this  off- 
spring of  His  divine  agonies  drawn  closer  to  His  eternal 
heart  by  the  thought  of  all  it  cost  to  give  her  being. 

Then  again, — in  this  Church  of  His  is  His  own  lionor 
pledged.  He  hath  not  covenanted  with  the  world  that 
now  is,  to  immortalize  it;  but  He  has  passed  His  own 
AVord  for  the  perpetuity  of  His  Church.  Nothing  so  framed 

VOL.  II. — 21 


242 


Strength  and  Mission  [SERM.  xvi. 


was  ever  framed  to  perish;  He  has  infused  into  it  His  own 
Spirit,  and  His  Spirit  is  life.  Even  this  were  sceurity 
enough ;  but  His  oath  is  securer  still.  That  the  Church  of 
Christ  should  fade  away  from  the  earth,  would  fill  even 
heaven  with  dismay ;  for  it  would  perplex  the  very  angels 
as  to  the  changeless  truth  of  Him  who  has  promised  it 
immortality; — yea,  heaven's  own  foundations  should  totter 
if  that  Church  which  is  the  antechamber  of  the  kingdom  of 
glory — which  is,  saith  St  Ambrose,  "  the  image  of  the  celes- 
tial"— were  to  wane  and  disappear.  It  may  be  corrupted, 
it  may  be  enfeebled,  it  may  be  persecuted,  or  worse — it  may 
persecute ;  it  may  be  ignorantly  enslaved  in  one  division,  or 
insolently  turbulent  in  another ;  it  may,  in  short,  be  all  that 
the  subtlety  of  the  Tempter  during  his  permitted  hour  can 
make  it ; — but — it  cannot  perish.  Its  day  of  purification 
must  come  at  last.  The  Church  may  forget  Christ, — it  is  no- 
where promised  that  she  shall  not ;  but  Christ  cannot  forget 
her  1  "  Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down,  neither  shall  thy 
moon  withdraw  itself;  for  the  Lord  is  thine  everlasting  light, 
and  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended.  Thy  2')eoplc 
also  shall  be  all  righteous:  they  shall  inherit  the  land  for 
ever,  the  branch  of  my  planting,  the  work  of  my  hands,  that 
I  may  be  glorified."  (Isai.  Ix.  20,  21.) 

But  even  more, — is  not  this  Church  in  its  ultimate  per- 
fection set  forth  as  the  very  Reicard  of  all  the  sorrows  of 
its  Lord  ?  and  shall  He  be  defrauded  of  His  recompense  ? 
To  "see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied"  is  His 
destined  crown;  this  "joy  set  before  Him"  was  that  which 
enabled  Him  to  "  endure  the  cross,  despising  the  shame." 
Every  one  of  you,  then,  that  lives  in  faith  and  purity  within 
this  holy  Society,  becomes  an  element  in  the  happiness  of 
Christ ;  and,  glorious  thought !  can  make  heaven  itself  to 
Him  more  blissful.  Every  one  of  you  that  resigns  a  world 
of  corruption  for  the  holy  simplicity  of  the  Christian  life, 
adds  a  new  joy  to  the  joys  of  even  an  enthroned  God. 
And  if  this  be  so  now,  what  shall  it  be  in  the  day  of  the 


SERM.  XVI.] 


of  the  Church. 


243 


regeneration?  The  Church  that  shall  end,  as  it  began, 
with  none  but  saints  its  members ;  the  Church  that  shall 
be  by  Christ  presented  to  Himself  "a  glorious  Church, 
without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing  ;"  how  shall  its 
solemn  entry  into  the  prepared  kingdom  fill  the  heart  of 
its  almighty  Guardian  with  an  ecstasy  which  even  amid 
all  His  accumulated  glories,  it  is  yet  reserved  for  Him  to 
experience ! 

Yet  why  insist  upon  these  things  ?  All  these  relation- 
ships are  below  the  truth.  There  is  more  than  Creation  to 
bind  the  Church  to  Christ,  more  than  promise,  more  than 
reward ;  there  is  communion,  oneness,  identification.  A 
man  may  desert  his  child ;  he  cannot  desert  himself.  Even 
though  the  Redeemer  could  forget  his  espoused  Bride ; 
even  though  He  could  deny  his  plighted  promise ;  yea, 
though  He  could  abandon  His  own  reward;  He  cannot 
abandon  His  own  body.  The  people  of  Christ,  once  re- 
ceived into  His  covenant  and  there  abiding,  are  interwoven 
intQ  His  very  nature;  "we  are  members,"  declares  the 
Apostle,  "  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones." 
With  such  a  union  there  can  be  no  separation ;  if  Christ 
be  immortal  the  Church  is  so ;  when  He  dies  she  shall 
perish,  but  not  till  then. 

Such  is  the  Holy  Church  of  God,  her  dignity,  her  pro- 
mises, her  privilege.  Let  not  such  expressions  as  these  be 
weakened  in  your  estimation  by  any  distinctions  of  visible 
and  invisible  Churches.  For  my  own  part, — I  would  not 
dictate  to  others  upon  a  point  on  which  many  of  our 
holiest  and  most  gifted  divines  have  been  divided, — but  as 
far  as  my  own  researches  have  extended, — I  know  of  but 
one  Church  in  the  New  Testament;  that  which  was  visibly 
founded  on  visible  Apostles,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being 
its  visible  chief  corner-stone ;  and  I  confess  I  cannot  but 
regard  it  as  eminently  unfortunate  that  any  other  concep- 
tion of  the  Church  of  Christ  should  ever  have  gained  cur- 
rency within  her  borders.    It  is  true  that  Christ's  promises 


2-i-t 


Strength  and  Mission 


[SEKM.  XVI. 


are  conditional  on  repentance  and  faitli  to  all  wlio  are 
capable  of  exercising  those  graces  ;  it  is  also  perfectly  true 
that  those  alone  who  fulfil  the  conditions  really  and  in  spirit 
adhere  to  the  Head ;  but  this  surely  no  more  constitutes 
these  happy  and  holy  believers  a  "  Church"  in  the  Scrip- 
tural sense  of  that  term,  than  the  loyalty  of  a  few  members 
in  a  disaffected  corporation  constitutes  them  the  corpora- 
tion, or  the  fidelity  of  a  few  soldiers  in  a  mutinous  army 
constitutes  them  the  army  itself.  That  the  Church  should 
be  corrupt  does  not  annihilate  its  existence,  or  destroy  its 
essential  being  as  a  society.  That  the  body  should  be  all 
more  or  less  infirm  with  the  exception  of  a  single  arm, 
does  not  make  it  necessary  to  call  that  arm  the  body  ;  still 
less,  to  rob  the  sickly  frame  of  its  appointed  rights — its 
sustenance  for  the  present,  its  hopes  for  the  future.  I 
should  not  have  mentioned  this  point  at  all  (because  I  have 
no  time  to  do  it  any  justice)  were  it  not  that  it  bears  di- 
rectly on  my  business  here  this  day.  For,  one  of  the  evils 
of  this  refinement  of  the  Church  into  the  ideal  company  of 
the  Elect,  is,  that  it  cuts  all  the  tenderest  nerves  of  sym- 
pathy between  godly  men  and  the  visible  Church  of  Christ 
around  tbem.  It  is  impossible  for  them  to  sympathize  on 
purely  Scriptural  grounds  with  a  society  which  they  have 
been  taught  to  imagine  is  nowbere — or  scarcely — recog- 
nized in  Scripture.  It  may  be  a  valuable  community,  but 
it  is  not  theirs.  Tbey  admit  it  to  be  a  useful  machinery, 
perhaps, — a  tolerable  instrument,  as  times  go,  for  spiritual 
benefit ;  but  they  do  not  see  in  it  a  direct  appointment  of 
Heaven,  an  immediate  object  of  divine  superintendence,  a 
society  intended  to  engage  and  to  foster  their  affections, 
dear  for  its  own  sake  and  for  Christ's.  And  these  being 
the  considerations  that  impress  godly  men  most  deeply,  the 
Church  thus  loses  her  highest,  holiest,  and  most  engaging 
claims.  Calculation  takes  the  place  of  a  bright  and  happy 
enthusiasm ;  the  Spouse  is  regarded  as  a  useful  servant, 
not  as,  amid  all  her  misfortunes,  the  still  cherished  Bride 


SEEM,  xvr.] 


of  the  Church. 


245 


of  Christ.  And  thus,  instead  of  the  topics  that  Paul  has 
given  us,  and  Isaiah,  and  the  Lord  Himself ;  we  have  to 
descend  to  low  calculations  of  economic  utility.  Not  that 
we  dread  such  inquiries  as  to  the  social  value  of  the 
Church ;  but  certainly  we  would  rather  not  be  always 
obliged  to  stoop  to  them. 

But  I  must  proceed ;  for  I  am  aware  I  cannot  venture 
to  detain  your  attention  at  present  beyond  a  limited  period. 
I  turn,  then,  for  a  moment  to  the  other  branch  of  the  text ; 
— to  that  which  predicts  that  this  Zion  of  God  shall  be  the 
resort  of  His  poor,  and  the  object  of  their  trust. 

II.  How  does  the  Church  of  Christ  fulfil  this  promise  ? 
In  what  capacity  does  she  present  herself  as  the  appointed 
Guide  and  Friend  of  the  poor  ?  This  is  of  moment  to  my 
case ;  for  it  is  to  enable  her  to  be  such  that  I  desire  to 
engage  your  exertions. 

Brethren, — the  Church  of  Christ  is  one  vast  institute  for 
the  benefit  of  the  poor.  He  who  loved  all,  eminently 
loved  them ;  professed  himself  eminently  their  gospel 
preacher ;  declared  that  the  heaven  He  preached,  though 
open  to  all,  was  still  peculiarly  a  heaven  for  them.  And 
His  Church  has  ever,  even  in  her  darkest  days,  retained 
much  of  the  character  He  thus  impressed.  There  were 
times  when  in  her  overweening  secularity  she  taxed  the 
rich  to  supply  her  undue  ambition ;  yet  even  then,  to  do 
but  justice  to  those  ages  of  arrogance,  she  had  still  an  open 
hand  for  the  poor.  But  it  is  not  of  her  temporal  charities 
I  speak  now.  It  is  in  the  doctrine  she  preaches,  and  the 
way  she  preaches  it,  that  the  Church  is  indeed  the  poor  man's 
consoler.  It  is  in  meeting  his  sorrows  with  tidings  of  glory 
to  come,  in  brightening  the  gloom  of  his  humble  home 
with  the  hallowed  light  of  eternity,  in  soothing  his  days  of 
hard  and  heavy  toil  with  her  peaceful  sabbaths,  in  watch- 
ing over  his  bed  of  sickness  with  a  patience  as  unwearied 
as  if  his  poor  chamber  were  gorgeous  with  gilded  ceilings 
and  silken  tapestry, — it  is  in  these  things  that  the  Church 

21^- 


246  Strength  and  Mission  of  the  Church.    [SERM.  XVI. 

carries  on  that  loveliest  attribute  of  her  Lord — "  Thou  hast 
been  a  strength  to  the  poor,  a  strength  to  the  needy  in  his 
distress  1" 

And  then  the  truths  she  teaches  him, — how  elevating, 
how  enlarging,  how  fortifying,  how  exalting  I  I  thank  that 
God  of  grace,  that  there  are  within  her  precincts  hundreds 
upon  hundreds  of  pastors  who  have  no  other  feeling ; — men 
as  sincerly  devoted  to  the  work  of  Christ  as  any  Church  in 
the  world  can  produce!  Brethren,  you  must  not  desert 
this  Church  of  Ireland  ;  you  must  learn  to  love  this  poorer 
sister.  A  common  interest  ought  to  endear  us  to  each 
other ;  for  what  are  we  but  the  outpost  in  a  contest  which 
you  will  yourselves  have  to  endure  ?  But  why  do  I  speak 
merely  of  the  Church  of  my  country  ?  I  tell  you  my 
country  herself  asks  for  scriptural  education; — the  poor 
Irishman  loves  it — when  he  dares !  That  noble  country, 
that  land  of  generous  hearts,  what  does  she  want  to  make 
her  worthy  to  accompany  you  in  history  but  the  uncor- 
rupted  truth  of  Christ  that  you  possess?  Will  you  not 
unite  in  the  blessed  office  of  diffusing  it?  Will  you  not 
awake  among  yourselves  and  your  friends  a  holy  enthu- 
siasm for  this  high  enterprise,  now,  that  it  is  undertaken 
with  auspices  that  authenticate  it  to  your  understandings  no 
less  than  to  your  hearts  ?  You  may  allege,  that  you  are 
too  often  appealed  to  on  these  Irish  charities;  that  you 
cannot  distinguish  between  their  rival  claims.  Brethren, 
it  is  not  for  me  to  criticize  the  principles  or  the  operations 
of  bodies,  which,  no  doubt,  all  mean  well ;  but  I  must  be 
permitted  to  say,  that  the  authority  by  which  this  Society 
is  presented  to  England  sets  it  far  above  every  other,  how- 
ever ardent  or  devoted.  Its  connection  with  the  legitimate 
governors  of  the  Irish  Church  affords  a  security  to  which 
no  other  can  pretend.  The  Educational  Society  of  the  Irish 
Church,  the  Society  of  her  Bishops  and  her  Clergy,  is  this 
day  recommended  to  your  affections ;  I  trust  in  God,  recom- 
mended not  in  vain ! 


SERMON  XVII. 


THE  INGRATITUDE  OF  THE  JEWS. 

(Preached  at  St  Stephen's  Church,  June  4,  1837.) 

And,  behold,  the  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  Jesus :  and  when  they  saw 
him,  they  besought  him  that  he  would  depart  out  of  their  coasts. — 
Matthew  viii.  34. 

This  verse,  my  Brethren,  is  part  of  a  passage  wliicli  con- 
nects together  two  very  remarkable  scenes  in  the  life  of 
Christ.  Short  as  it  is,  and  perhaps  of  no  great  apparent 
importance,  it  is  nevertheless  not  to  be  lost  and  consumed 
in  the  wonderful  tales  of  miracle  and  mercy  which  precede 
and  follow  it.  The  story  of  the  Gospels,  rich  in  abounding 
usefulness,  is  scarcely  more  instructive  when  it  describes 
the  conduct  of  God,  than  when  it  recounts  the  correspond- 
ing conduct  of  man;  and  to  enter  fully  into  the  spirit  of 
the  whole,  both  must  be  taken  in,  as  correlative  parts  of 
one  all-important  narrative.  The  Gospel  has  a  double 
nature,  like  its  Author.  And  not  when  the  Omnipotence 
of  the  Son  of  God  flashes  out  in  the  miracles  of  the  Son 
of  Man ;  not  when  His  prodigies  of  healing  and  sustaining 
are  heaped  before  us  in  all  the  bright  profusion  of  a  benevo- 
lence, almighty  as  it  is  benevolent ;  not  when  (raising  others 
from  the  dead  as  a  foretaste  of  that  last  grand  "  declaration 
according  to  the  Spirit  of  holiness"  when  He  rose  Himself 
triumphant  over  the  tomb)  He  cried  "  Lazarus,  come  forth !" 


2i8 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jeivs.      [serm.  xvir. 


or  to  tke  corse  of  the  ruler's  daughter,  "  I  say  unto  thee, 
arise !" — not  even  in  such  wonders  as  these  lies  a  deeper 
spring  of  thoughts  than  in  the  parallel  narratives  of  the 
emotions  and  feelings  of  the  frail  and  mingled  crowd  that 
heard  llim.  If  the  one  class  of  memorials  seem  now  and 
then  (in  happier  moments)  to  exalt  us  almost  beyond  what 
we  are,  the  others  too  truly  inform  or  remind  us  what  we 
arc  ;  if  the  consciousness  of  participating  in  spiritual  unity 
with  such  a  Being  as  our  Prince  of  Peace,  sometimes  lifts 
us  beyond  the  lowly  level  of  humanity,  the  consciousness, 
conlirnicd  by  the  same  faithful  pages,  of  sharing  in  the  cor- 
rupted nature  of  those  who  neglected, — or  despised, — or 
persecuted, — or  murdered  Him,  may  well  restore  us  to  the 
grave  sadness  of  a  Christian  humility.  Thus  is  Scripture 
perfect  in  its  combination  of  records  and  its  balance  of 
motives;  thus  is  it  profitable  not  more  for  " doctrine"  than 
for  "  reproof  and  correction."  In  truth,  the  richest  harvest 
of  godly  knowledge  lies  not  among  those  demonstrations  of 
divine  power  which  were  presented  by  our  blessed  Lord ; 
the  heights  of  those  omnipotent  examples  (though  far 
indeed  from  barren)  are  perliaps  too  lofty  to  admit  of 
general  or  easy  cultivation ;  and  though  I  firmly  believe, 
not  a  wonder  that  is  recorded  of  Him  is  without  a  deeper 
significance  than  we  commonly  imagine,  yet  the  readiest 
and  most  abounding  fruit  of  instruction  is  to  be  gathered 
in  the  lower  territory  of  the  Gospel,  in  that  region  where 
the  divinity  seems  to  lose  itself  in  the  manhood, — in  the 
discourses  of  the  Divine  Preacher  Himself,  and  in  the  doings 
of  His  majestic  lowliness.  And  (as  I  have  said)  not  least 
of  all,  is  instruction  to  be  gained  from  the  recorded  conduct 
of  the  mixed  multitudes  who  came  within  the  sphere  of 
this  Light  of  the  world ; — and  by  some  of  whom  the  rays 
of  His  celestial  influence  were  happily  absorbed  into  their 
very  being;  by  some  flung  back  ungraciously  to  the  source 
itself  of  the  illumination ;  by  some  received  indeed,  but 
received  only  to  be  distorted  ia  passing  through  a  thousand 


SEEM.  XVII.]      The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews. 


249 


faUacioTis  and  perverting  mediums  of  passion,  and  preju- 
dice, and  precipitation. 

The  results  of  tlie  preaching  of  our  Lord  were  indeed 
individually  various.  His  own  heavenly  teaching  Avas  not 
without  its  fruits ;  although  the  task  and  the  glory  of  im- 
mediate conversions  were  principally  permitted  to  His 
ministers.  There  were  those  who  besought  Him  to  remain, 
as  well  as  those  who  "  besought  Him  to  depart."  In  one 
place  we  read  that  "the  people  sought  Him,  and  caiJfe 
unto  Him,  and  stayed  Him,  that  He  should  not  depart 
from  them,"  (Luke  iv.  42)  and  just  after  that  they  "pressed 
upon  Him  to  hear  the  Word  of  God."  (Luke  v.  1.)  The 
honest-hearted  oflScers  pleaded  to  the  Pharisees  that  "  never 
man  spake  like  this  man,"  (John  vii.  46) ;  and  "  many  of 
the  people  said,"  on  the  same  occasion,  "  of  a  truth  this  is 
the  Prophet."  But  the  general  complexion  of  the  case  is 
sadly  different.  The  occasional  virtues  of  individuals  are 
lost  in  the  criminality  of  the  nation.  The  impulses  in  His 
favor  were  few  and  incidental;  the  current  against  Him 
strong  and  steady.  And  the  request  in  the  text,  that  the 
Lord  of  life  should  depart  from  their  too-honored  coasts, 
was  only  one  of  the  earlier  incidents  of  that  drama,  terrible 
in  its  consistency  of  crime,  which  ended  with  the  suicidal 
imprecation,  "  His  blood  be  upon  us  and  upon  our  chil- 
dren !" 

My  present  object  (in  accordance  with  the  remark  which 
I  have  already  made  relative  to  the  importance  of  con- 
sidering the  human  and  corrupt  examples,  no  less  than  the 
Divine  and  Holy  Example,  of  the  Gospel  narrative)  is  to 
lead  you  to  reflect  how  complete  and  how  melancholy  is 
the  portraiture  presented  to  all  following  ages  in  the 
histories  of  Christ's  rejection : — an  example  which  is  so 
perfect  in  its  development  of  the  profound  depravity  of 
our  nature,  as  to  induce  me  to  think  that  the  season,  the 
place,  and  the  other  circumstances  of  the  Great  Sacrifice, 
were  selected  out  of  the  mass  of  historical  situations  and 


250 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews.      [sERM.  XVII. 


possibilities  ■which  lay  before  the  Divine  Disposer,  with  an 
express  view  to  the  formation  of  so  tremendous  and  un- 
paralleled a  warning  of  the  heart's  deceitfulness  and  des- 
perate wickedness,  to  all  who  were  to  follow  the  age  of 
Christ's  appearing. 

For,  Brethren,  (to  illustrate  the  nature  of  such  reasonings 
more  fully)  we  are  not  to  imagine  that  among  the  unnum- 
bered and  careful  preordinations  of  God  in  relation  to  the 
j/Wi'sonal  office  and  achievements  of  Christ  in  the  great 
Event  of  human  history, — the  precise  time,  place,  and  other 
similar  circumstances,  even  to  the  minutest  particular  of 
time  and  place  and  circumstance,  were  not  every  one  of 
them  matters  of  divine  forethought  and  prescription. 
"When  we  find  not  only  the  country  of  his  birth  foretokened, 
but  the  very  city  of  it ;  when  we  find  not  only  His  descent 
from  Abraham  proclaimed,  but  His  descent  from  a  special 
tribe  of  Abraham's  family ;  and  not  only  from  this  special 
tribe,  but  from  a  particular  royal  line ; — when  we  find  the 
state  of  the  general  world  at  His  coming  not  obscurely  sha- 
dowed forth,  and,  still  more,  the  very  year  of  His  great 
sacrifice  predicted,  and  the  accompanying  condition  of  the 
former  but  forsaken  nation  of  God  declared ; — can  we  doubt 
(seeing  thus  the  particularity  of  the  prophetical  annuncia- 
tions) that  there  were  reasons  in  the  divine  counsels  for 
eyeT^Y  further  specialty  of  His  history,  though  not  prefigured 
in  the  prophetic  canon, — that  the  world  was  duly  prepared 
for  Him  no  less  than  He  for  the  world, — that  the  precise 
condition  of  the  people  among  whom  He  came,  and  no 
other  condition  of  that  people,  and  no  other  people  of  any 
condition,  suited  the  exact  designs  of  Heaven?  And  if 
we  suffer  the  impulses  of  such  reflections  to  extend,  they 
will  surely  end  in  an  assured  conviction,  that  there  is  not 
a  detail  (of  whatever  apparent  irrelevancy)  in  the  histories 
of  Christ  which  may  not  have  had  its  definite  reason  in 
relation  to  the  entire  plan  of  redemption,  as  it  assuredly 


SEEM.  XVII.]       The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews. 


251 


had  its  general  foreordination  or  foreknowledge  in  tlie 
eternal  purposes  of  an  all-purposing  God. 

There  is  one  class  of  purposes,  then,  which  is  of  all  others 
the  most  easily  comprehensible;  the  purpose  of  example 
and  admonition.  If  you  remember  that  the  high  Providence 
of  God  has  seen  fit  to  leave  his  Church  no  infallible  exter- 
nal guidance  peculiar  to  them,  beyond  the  writings  of  the 
New  Testament,  it  will  tend  to  impress  upon  you  the  ex- 
ceeding importance  of  every  line  in  such  a  volume  so  cir- 
cumstanced. Such  a  volume  is  not  likely  to  contain  much 
that  is  irrelevant.  And  it  is  in  this  way  that  I  believe  that 
the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  were  in  the  deep  pur- 
pose of  God  so  arranged  in  their  historical  part,  as  to  fitly 
become  to  us  very  much  what  the  typical  details  of  the 
Old  Testament  ought  to  have  been  to  the  Jews ;  an  outward 
and  palpable  representation  of  deep  and  eternal  moral 
truths,  a  visible  external  detail  confined  to  a  special  race  of 
mankind,  of  that  which  is  invisible,  internal,  and  universal 
as  the  human  heart.  So  that  the  realities  of  the  ancient 
types  become  themselves  instructive  types  to  all  future 
times.  The  story  of  Christ  incarnate  in  Judea  is  the  story 
of  the  Christ  that  spiritually  visits  every  natural  heart  of 
man. 

I  say  then  that  the  age  of  the  world  and  the  peculiar 
position  of  the  chosen  people  at  the  time  when  our  Blessed 
Lord  came  down  to  tabernacle  in  human  flesh,  were  of  all 
ages  and  national  positions  the  most  admirably  formed  to 
call  out  the  excellencies  of  the  superhuman  Sufferer  and 
the  corresponding  character  of  the  unregenerate  soul;  tliat 
thence  (through  that  divine  and  adorable  mercy  which 
works  good  from  evil)  the  history  of  such  a  leing  so  placed 
becomes  an  example  surpassing  all  other  supposable  exam- 
ples, for  the  everlasting  instruction  of  posterity. 

I  must  content  myself  this  evening  with  offering  only 
one  or  two  very  simple  illustrations  of  a  proposition  which 
your  own  research  will  easily  extend, — or  which  some 


252 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews.     [seem.  xvil. 


future  opportunity  may  enable  me  to  accompany  yon  in 
extending. 

In  tlie  first  place  then  (to  commence  this  melancholy 
exposition  of  criminality)  regard  the  political  condition  of 
the  people  among  whom  the  Lord  of  Glory  was  manifested 
in  the  flesh.  The  royal  philosopher  has  said  that  "  it  is 
better  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning  than  to  the  house  of 
feasting,"  and  that  "  sorrow  is  better  than  laughter ;  for  by 
the  sadness  of  the  countenance  the  heart  is  made  better" 
(Eccles.  vii.  2,  3);  and  these  sayings,  no  less  true  than 
beautiful,  are  confirmed  by  general  experience.  But  there 
are  exceptions  to  the  rule ;  and  the  fallen  condition  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  preacher  himself  was  destined  to  form  a 
prominent  one.  It  may  perhaps  be  said  with  truth  that 
the  state  of  mind  in  which — all  requisite  previous  instruc- 
tion being  supposed — sorrow  is  found  to  indurate  rather 
than  to  soften, — in  which  the  most  powerful  of  all  moral 
medicines  becomes  a  poison,  and  in  which  the  spirit,  instead 
of  being  broken  and  contrite  by  affliction,  becomes  habit- 
ually impenitent,  and  desperate  with  its  woes, — is  that  con- 
dition of  human  nature  which  (if  we  were  to  select  among 
the  varieties  of  depravity)  is  actually  the  farthest  from  God. 
Now  and  then  this  frightful  condition  is  on  a  large  scale 
developed  upon  earth  in  famine  and  plagues  and  other  such 
visitations ;  and  those  who  have  witnessed  it,  want  no  ex- 
planation of  what  the  misery  of  hell  consists  in.  In  cases 
of  extreme  and  urgent  misery,  however,  when  life  itself  is 
to  be  struggled  for,  it  would  be  vain  to  ofi'er  instruction  or 
consolation ;  and  where  the  contrast  is  to  be  exhibited,  and 
the  corruption  that  refuses  the  consolation  to  be  displayed, 
an  instance  must  be  sought  of  less  immediate  and  crushing 
anguish.  That  instance  was  furnished  in  the  Jews.  When 
the  Messiah  appeared,  they  were  an  oppressed  and  unhappy 
race.  Possessing  little  national  consequence,  and  only  a  sha- 
dow of  independence,  they  were  continually  forced  to  see 
their  ancient  religion  reviled  (and  wc  know  the  miserable 


SERM.  XVII.]      The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews. 


253 


heroism  of  tlieir  attachmeut  to  it!),  their  hallowed  services 
mocked  by  the  brutality  of  a  ferocious  heathea  soldiery, 
their  rights  of  property  violated  by  the  officers  of  a  foreign 
oppression,  their  very  lives  endangered — for  did  not  Pilate 
"  mingle  their  blood  with  their  sacrifices  ?"  Their  own 
rulers  only  aggravated  the  general  misery.  Contentious, 
arrogant  men  filled  the  chairs  of  the  prophets ;  and  the 
venerable  high  priesthood  had  become  the  reward  of  suc- 
cessful bribery,  or  more  sanguinary  audacity.  Such  an 
instance  of  national  depression  in  contrast  with  former 
grandeur,  was  at  that  period — at  any  period — not  to  be 
paralleled  on  earth.  In  the  midst  of  such  a  scene  appeared 
the  promised  Restorer.  The  Spirit  of  God  moved  over  the 
chaos  of  their  fortunes,  and  would  have  harmonized  the 
whole  for  ever.  But  the  Messiah  invoked  Ilis  country- 
men in  vain.  They  had  no  heart  for  the  happiness  He 
could  offer  them.  Like  many  in  every  age  since  theirs, 
they  could  sigh  for  national  regeneration,  but  they  could 
not  begin  with  individual  reform.  Here  then  was  consum- 
mated the  depravity.  The  sorrow  that  should  have  pre- 
pared their  hearts  for  the  good  seed  of  the  word,  left  them 
harder,  more  obdurately  vicious  than  ever.  They  could 
follow  their  Theudas  and  their  Barcochebas,  but  they  could 
not  accept  the  lofty  and  beautiful  emancipation  which  Christ 
proclaimed.  They  could  worship  the  false  lights  of  false 
messiahs, — they  went  astray  while  the  Light  of  the  world 
was  among  them.  They  "  turned  from  all  He  brought  to 
all  He  would  not  bring;"  and  refused  allegiance  because 
the  Lord  of  Eternity  would  not  condescend  to  accept  the 
paltry  honors  of  an  earthly  throne. 

Here  then  is  the  point.  That  the  condition  of  the  Jewish 
people,  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb  by  afflictions,  and,  never- 
theless, only  more  abandoned  in  iniquity  as  individuals,  as 
they  sunk  deeper  in  calamity  as  a  nation, — covered  with 
sores  and  weakness,  yet  unable  to  recognize  and  adopt  the 
Physician — presents  a  specimen  of  the  hopeless  ruin  of  the 
VOL.  II. — 22 


254 


llie  Ingratihide  of  the  Jeivs.      [sERM.  xvil. 


human  heart,  snch  as  no  other  nation  or  age  could  (in  this 
definite  and  tangible  form)  have  presented ;  and  that  (as  I 
conceive)  such  a  condition  of  things  was  chosen  by  the 
Supreme  Disposer,  with  a  view  to  impress  the  terrible  ex- 
ample upon  our  hearts.  These  things  were  "written  for 
our  learning,  that  we,  through  patience,  and  comfort  of  the 
Scriptures,  might  have" — shall  I  say  "AopeF"  Yes  truly, 
for  those  who  have  already  learned  the  discipline  of  that 
"/ear"  which  is  "  the  beginning  of  wisdom ;"  for  those  who 
already  know  how  to  walk  in  the  "fear  of  the  Lord"  as 
well  as  in  the  "comfort  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  (Acts  ix.  31.) 
Hope?  Yes,  but  hope  only  for  those  who  realize  the 
beloved  Apostle's  indications  of  a  genuine  hope,  when  he 
tells  us  that  "  every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  puri- 
fieth  himself,  even  as  He — (Christ) — is  pure."  (1  John  iii.  3.) 

The  Jews  then  were  an  example,  or  type,  of  slavery  that 
would  not  accept  real  freedom.  I  said  that  they  were  an 
example  of  this  unfruitful  affliction  in  a  definite  historical 
form ;  and  I  said  so,  because  I  would  not  have  you  to 
dream  that  they  stand  alone  in  their  folly.  The  Christian- 
ity of  our  time  has  little  cause  to  exult  over  the  legal 
righteousness  of  the  synagogue  ;  as  little,  to  reproach  the 
Jews  of  that  day  with  sorrows  that  brought  no  profit,  and 
opportunities  neglected.  Did  they  alone  groan  under 
intestine  dissensions  ?  did  they  alone  groan  under  a  foreign 
tyranny  ?  Alas !  is  not  every  unconverted  heart  an  aban- 
doned Israel,  perplexed  with  the  conflicts  of  internal 
passions,  and  ground  down  by  the  incessant  tyranny  of 
a  despot  more  merciless  than  any  earthly  governor; 
Wretched  disguise  of  hollow  happiness !  Those  who  have 
Avatched  the  manners  of  the  slaves  whose  necks  are  cursed 
with  the  tyranny  of  American  freedom,  often  tell  us  that 
there  is  a  remarkable,  and  at  first  glance,  a  very  surprising 
peculiarity  in  their  habits.  The  stranger  does  not  discover, 
as  he  expects,  the  gloom  and  reserve  of  sullen  despondency, 
but  rather  an  excessive  levity,  a  reckless  gaiety  of  spirits, 


SERM.  XVII.]       The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jeics. 


255 


that  seems  to  contrast  most  inexplicably  witli  tbeir 
miserable  situation.  But  tbe  wonder  soon  disappears. 
The  gaiety  is  quickly  detected  to  be  an  irrational  mirth, 
the  most  horrible  result  of  despair  and  degradation. 
Hopeless,  thoughtless,  feelingless,  they  snatch  the  momen- 
tary respite  from  the  "whip,  and  endeavor  to  make  up  by 
an  overstrained  effort  of  compulsory  joy,  for  the  shortness 
and  uncertainty  of  their  unhappy  festivity.  Their  miseries 
breed  their  vices ;  and  profligacy  is  but  the  refuge  from 
despair.  I  have  never  read  such  descriptions  as  these 
without  thinking  how  truly  they  picture  the  general  aspect 
of  the  world.  The  same  unmitigated  slavery,  the  same 
transitory  reprieve,  the  same  feverish  excitement,  the  same 
profligate  abasement,  the  same  dark  and  dreaded  punish- 
ment overhanging  the  whole  I 

Such  is  one  admonitory  aspect  of  the  Jewish  example. 
The  subject  is  fruitful  of  many  warnings ;  but  we  must 
pass  rapidly  on. 

If  time  permitted  I  would  more  particularly  wish  to 
enlarge  upon  the  peculiar  opportunities  which  the  state  of 
the  Jewish  religious  system  afforded  for  calling  out  the 
various  perversions  of  truth — hypocritical,  free-thinking, 
and  mystical — under  the  notice,  censure,  and  correction  of 
our  blessed  Lord.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that 
in  our  own  day  perversions  exist  almost  literally  parallel ; 
so  perfect  is  the  gospel  type  for  the  Church's  instruction. 
But  the  subject  is  too  extensive  for  any  incidental  treat- 
ment. I  hasten  to  a  point  more  simple  and  quite  as  in- 
structive. 

I  affirm  then,  in  the  third  place,  that  the  history  of  the 
mission  of  Christ  as  connected  with  the  Jewish  people,  pre- 
sented an  instance — a  "  prerogative  instance" — of  the  mass 
of  ingratitude  which  mingles  in  the  corruption  of  the 
human  heart,  such  as  no  other  connection  could  have 
furnished  in  any  age  or  country  of  the  world.  Whatever 
doubts  may  have  attended  the  former  reasoning,  here  we 


256 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews.      [SERM.  xvil. 


argue  with  absolute  certainty.  The  elder  revelation  which 
we  receive  as  the  only  revelation  of  its  date,  stands  alone 
because  the  people  it  concerns  stand  alone  ;  and  if  the 
people  were  not  a  solitary  instance  of  ingratitude,  that 
revelation  (which  assumes  the  peculiarity  of  their  position, 
which  again  is  the  point  on  which  we  found  the  ingratitude) 
could  not  he  true.  On  this  point  then  (as  to  facts  and  cir- 
cumstances) wc  are  left  in  no  perplexity  of  hypothesis  or 
conjecture. 

It  is  true  that  all  living  beings  are  indebted  to  the 
Creator  for  the  original  and  basis  of  all  blessings,  the  gift 
of  existence..  It  is  true  that,  so  far^  all  human  beings 
are  bound  to  gratitude.  But  though  existence  may  be  a 
necessary  groundwork  upon  which  alone  blessings  can  be 
wrought,  and  in  this  relation  may  be  itself  regarded  as  a 
blessing  in  being  preparatory  to  possible  blessings, — yet 
it  is  very  certain  that  it  may  likewise  be  the  ground  of 
misery,  and  thus  prove  in  this  relation  eventually  a  curse. 
Our  Lord  bears  out  this  language,  in  speaking  of  one  to 
whom  "  it  would  have  been  good  if  he  had  never  been 
born."  And  in  such  cases  a  feeling  of  gratitude  is  plainly 
incompatible  with  common  consciousness ;  that  is  to  say, 
gratitude  except  for  possible  advantages,  a  feeling  too 
indistinct  for  notice,  not  to  say,  too  rational  and  collected 
for  a  state  of  the  turbulent  and  agonized  depravity  I  am 
adverting  to.  But  suppose  the  existence  adorned  with 
the  usual  mercies  of  providence.  Even  then, — general 
obligations  which  are  participated  with  the  universal  world, 
at  best  produce  but  little  impression.  The  beneficence 
which  is  divided  among  so  many  seems  proportionably 
lessened  to  each;  a  supposition  indeed  wholly  inapplicable 
to  an  injimte  Benefactor,  but  not  the  less  common  on  that 
account.  Besides,  they  are  felt  as  laivs  of  Nature  rather 
than  as  acts  of  Nature's  Law2;iver;  and  we  are  as  little 
affected  by  them  as  by  the  pliysical  ordinances  that  the 
earth  should  revolve,  or  that  the  sun  should  give  its  light. 


SERM.  XVII.]       The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jens. 


257 


The  chief  reason  is,  however,  that  applying  to  God  the 
littleness  of  man,  we  cannot  conceive  the  immensity  of 
a  love  that  can  extend  to  all  the  earth,  and  yet  be  a 
personal  friendship  to  every  individual.  But  the  belief  of 
special  favors,  the  knowledge  that  God  has  done  for  us 
what  He  has  not  done  for  any  hut  us, — the  conviction  that 
He  who  governs  others  by  general  rules  of  providence, 
has  chosen  us  out  as  the  peculiar  theatre  for  the  display 
of  distinguishing  graces, — this  individualizing  of  divine 
favors,  is  that  which  powerfully  moves  to  gratitude,  and  in 
the  natural  course  of  things  demands  a  rich  return  from 
the  heart.  And  so  it  ought  to  be.  For  though  others  who 
have  received  much  ought  not  to  relax  in  gratitude  at  tlie 
sight  of  greater  favors  denied ;  yet  assuredly  those  who 
have  received  more  ought  to  increase  in  gratitude,  at  the 
enjoyment  of  greater  favors  received.  All  nations  were 
reasonably — and  are  at  this  day  in  reason  and  conscience 
(the  reason  of  the  heart) — bound  to  worship  tbe  unseen 
Cause  of  benefits  which,  however  ignorant  in  particulars, 
they  at  least  felt,  and  feel,  to  be  provided  for  their  use,  not 
produced  by  \)si€\x  power ;  nor  should  the  invisibility  of  the 
Giver  diminish  the  gratitude  for  the  gift,  any  more  than  it 
would  diminish  it  in  any  parallel  instance  of  daily  life.  He 
who  receives  an  anonymous  charity  is  not  the  less  deeply 
affected  with  gratitude  because  the  donor  is  unknown ;  the 
gratitude  is  generated  in  the  heart  irrespective  of  the 
object;  the  winged  feeling  lives  and  breathes,  though  it 
knows  not  where  definitely  to  rest  and  settle.  And  thus  it 
was  that  the  unknown  God  of  the  Athenians  claimed  by  a 
perfect  right  the  acknowledgment  of  the  natural  heart, 
even  before  Paul  had  declared  Him  whom  they  "ignoruntly 
worshipped." 

But  all  these  vague  uncertainties  of  feeling  centre  upon 
a  revealed  God.  The  Jews  had  lived  upon  a  far  higher 
level  than  I  have  described,  both  of  heavenly  knowledge 
and  of  heavenly  favor.    They  hiein  the  Benefactor,  a)ul 

22'" 


258 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews.      [SERM.  xvil. 


they  knew  Uiin  their  own  ■peculiar  Benefactor.  In  the 
beautiful  language  of  their  legislator,  "  The  Lord's  portion 
is  Ilis  people,  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  Ilis  inheritance"  (compar- 
ing Ilim  to  some  great  king — as  in  the  preceding  verse — 
who  after  dividing  his  realms  among  his  chieftains,  selects 
some  one  lovely  and  favored  spot  as  his  own  special 
domain  and  royal  residence).  "lie  found  him  in  a  desert 
land,  and  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness;  he  led  him 
about,  he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his 
eye.  As  an  eagle  stirrcth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her 
young — (you  remember  the  resumption  of  the  metaphor 
by  our  Saviour  in  a  still  gentler  form) — spreadeth  abroad 
her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings;  so  the 
Lord  alone  did  lead  him."  (Deut.  xxxii.)  Truly  might  the 
Psalmist  say,  "  He  hath  not  dealt  so  with  any  nation."  (Ps. 
clvii.)  Their  whole  history  had  been  one  tissue  of  divine 
interpositions,  their  blessings  were  rewards — their  misfor- 
tunes punishments;  and  that  temporal  scheme  of  provi- 
dential justice  which  is  vainly  sought  on  this  side  of  the 
grave  in  all  other  histories,  was  almost  realized  in  the 
Jewish.  As  the  fulness  of  time  advanced,  the  prophetic 
messengers  foreshadowed  the  breadth  and  freeness  of  the 
evangelical  spirituality;  and  this  left  the  people  without 
excuse  in  retaining  the  narrowness  of  national  prejudices. 
No  honest  reader  of  Isaiah  could  escape  feeling  that  a  time 
was  to  come  when  the  Spirit  of  God  would  demand  the 
world  for  its  inheritance,  and  the  slender  stem  of  Judah's 
mercies  swell  into  a  cedar  whose  branches  should  cover  the 
earth.  Yet  Jesus,  the  substance  of  all  the  ceremonies  of 
the  law,  and  the  fulfiller  of  all  the  morality  of  the  prophets, 
— Jesus  "  to  whom  give  all  the  prophets  witness"  not  more 
in  precise  predictions  than  in  the  whole  cast  of  their  think- 
ing (as  some  reflectors  give  back  an  accurate  image  of  the 
sun,  while  others  give  a  general  diffusion  of  his  light) — Jesus 
was  (as  those  prophets  had  foretokened)  "  despised  and  re- 
jected of  men  !"    But  had  lie  been  rejected  of  others — had 


SERM.  XVII.]       The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews. 


259 


Athens  rejected  the  great  Teacher  for  her  philosophers,  or 
Eome  despised  the  Captain  of  Salvation  for  her  warriors — 
we  had  lost  a  mighty  document  of  human  depravity.  No, 
— "  He  came  unto  His  own,  and  His  own  received  Him 
not!"  They  who  through  a  long  course  of  centuries  had 
been  educated  into  expectation  of  the  ever-blessed  Visitant, 
perverted  the  expectation,  reading  it  by  the  corrupted  glare 
of  their  own  ambition;  and  though  miracles  more  wondrous 
than  those  of  their  greatest  leaders  were  performed  before 
tbeir  eyes, — miracles  that  identified  the  Saviour  with  the 
Angel  and  Guide  of  their  whole  past  history, — yet  the  in- 
fidelity of  the  heart  prevailed  to  poison  the  reason,  and  they 
rejected  Him ! 

Nor  is  it  to  be  said — to  countervail  the  accusation  of 
ingratitude,  that  they  preserved  their  allegiance  to  God 
while  they  refused  Christ,  whom  they  did  not  recognize  as 
His  Messenger.  The  circumstance  thus  pleaded  is  the 
very  one  which  constitutes  or  heightens  the  special  charge 
of  ingratitude.  For  the  Messiah's  ministry  was  so  arranged 
as  to  form  a  perfect  trial  of  the  heart ;  and  it  was  the  blind- 
ness of  heart  alone  which  was  unable  to  perceive  the  God- 
head under  the  veil.  There  was  no  possible  proof  refused 
— whether  internal  or  external — in  demonstration  of  the 
truth  of  the  Mission,  except  one  which  the  corrupted  heart 
demanded,  and  which,  because  the  Mission  was  to  be  a  trial 
of  heart,  God  on  that  very  account  denied;  I  mean  the 
direct  and  continued  display  of  earthly  majesty  and  domin- 
ion. This  was  refused,  because  he  who  could  not  recog- 
nize and  adore  a  Saviour  without  the  accessories  of  worldly 
distinction,  was  not  deemed  worthy  to  receive  Him  at  all. 
In  external  condition  humble  as  the  humblest,  the  Divinity 
broke  out  in  flashes  of  exceeding  splendor  to  those  whose 
passions  would  allow  them  to  interpret  it;  and  Christ 
walked  the  earth,  an  enigma,  whose  solution  lay  in  every 
honest  heart.  The  "  mystery  of  godliness"  was  addressed 
to  the  godly.    What  evidence  consistent  with  the  general 


2(30 


The  Ingralitude  of  the  Jeics.      [SERM.  XVII. 


plan  of  rcclcmption,  could  be  on'crcd,  of  tlic  true  Messiah- 
sliip  of  our  Lord,  whicla  was  not  liberally  given ;  and  shall 
we  excuse  liis  persecutors  of  ingratitude,  because  tbat  tumult 
of  passion  which  was  the  very  source  and  fountain  of  the 
ingratitude,  continually  interposed  to  cloud  the  conclusions 
of  their  reason  ?  The  reason  was  proclaiming  Ilim  the 
Deliverer,  while  the  passions  were  refusing  allegiance ;  and 
to  say  that  the  enemies  of  Christ  were  not  ungrateful  in 
assailing  Him  because  they  persisted  in  not  perceiving  Him 
to  be  the  Messiah,  would  be  to  say  that  ingratitude  to 
Christ  only  then  becoDies  possible,  when  circumstances 
have  rendered  it  impossible.  For  my  own  part,  I  believe 
that  Jesus  ivas  largely  felt  to  be  the  true  Prophet,  both  be- 
fore and  after  His  death ;  but  that  the  hostility  of  vice  was 
so  unconquerable,  as  that  the  belief  was  overwhelmed  and 
buried  in  the  abyss  of  passion.  The  men  that  saw  Him 
scatter  miracles  around  Him,  and  radiate  mercies  as  the  sun 
does  light,  assuredly  knew  Him  to  be  the  Messiah,  though 
they  could  not  bring  their  hearts  to  confess  it.  Holding 
then  that  the  reason  and  conscience  of  Israel  knew  their 
Lord,  while  its  passions  and  depravity  refused  Him, — hold- 
ing that  every  opportunity  of  identifying  the  Lord  Jesus 
with  the  promised  Deliverer  was  bestowed,  short  of  a  direct 
concession  to  vice;  I  proceed  to  build  upon  the  very  cir- 
cumstances of  His  manifestation,  that  testimony  to  the  ex- 
tent of  human  ingratitude  which  I  conceive  to  have  been 
designed  by  the  divine  counsel  as  a  tremendous  lesson  to 
every  future  age. 

The  main  force  of  the  ingratitude  then,  lay  in  the  very 
humility  of  the  Redeemer's  condition.  He  came  among 
His  countrymen  as  a  poor  and  humble  dweller  in  their 
native  Galilee, — the  fires  of  His  omnipotence  suppressed, 
the  "  glory  which  He  had  before  the  world  was,"  left  behind 
Him  in  the  eternal  bosom  of  His  Father.  Here  then  was 
a  trial  of  the  heart, — the  evident  God  of  their  fathers  (at 
the  lowest,  His  evident  Messenger  and  Friend)  asking  the 


SERM.  XVII.]      The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jeics. 


261 


hospitality  of  His  ancient  people.  Here  was  the  one  rnhj 
instance^  the  solitary  opportunity,  that  has  ever  occurred,  or 
can  ever  occur,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  its  confla- 
gration, for  man  to  return  a  personal  acknowledgment  of 
benefit  to  his  God.  The  God  who  had  filled  their  sacred 
records  with  glory  was  among  them,  and  "  had  not  where 
to  lay  his  head."  I  repeat  that  unbelief  must  not  protect 
them,  when  the  unbelief  was  itself  a  crime  of  the  heart. 
Had  He  come  as  He  once  appeared  to  their  lawgiver  on  the 
Arabian  mount, — the  mount  "that  burned  with  fire,"  in 
"blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest," — had  He  come  as 
His  Angel  descended  on  the  host  of  Sennacherib, — had  His 
advent  been  with  all  the  insignia  of  worldly  dominion — a 
rival  Cfesar, — who  would  or  could  have  refused  Him,  and 
where  would  have  been  the  ingratitutde  of  rejection?  But 
no — He  came  to  try  whether  His  own  would  receive  one  in 
whom  the  rest  of  the  world  could  take  no  pleasure ;  He 
was  received  with  the  crown  of  thorns  and  the  cross ! 

If  such  a  point  as  this  singular  example  of  ingratitude 
can  receive  any  further  illustration,  we  might  easily  suppose 
a  fitting  parallel.  Imagine  that  our  own  native  land  had 
been  placed  by  Divine  Providence  under  a  similar  course 
of  protection;  conceive  that  in  its  battles  the  powers  of 
heaven  were  seen  manifestly  interfering;  suppose  that  its 
rulers  were  guided  by  an  undeniable  divine  impulse,  and 
its  moral  education  conducted  by  commissioned  messengers 
of  Heaven  encouraging  or  reproving  the  general  mind,  and 
all  referring  their  authority  (fortified  by  miracles  and  pro- 
digies) to  one  celestial  source  of  power  and  knowledge. 
But  misfortune  reaches  our  land, — the  fatal  recompense  of 
carelessness  and  crime.  After  many  days  a  wondrous,  but 
not  unpredicted  event  takes  place.  In  our  streets  and  fields 
appears  a  Being  not  of  this  world,  a  meek  Omnipotent, 
spreading  blessings  by  no  tardy  mechanism  of  nature,  but 
with  the  direct  and  rapid  strokes  of  almighty  power.  Ills 
own  declarations  joined  to  all  around  Uiin  proclaim  to 


262 


The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews.      [serm.  xvii. 


those  good  hearts  who  can  read  the  language  of  His  actions, 
and  to  the  reason  of  all  men,  that  He  is  indeed  the  Being 
from  whose  inexhaustible  beneficence  the  past  recorded 
glories  of  our  people  had  sprung;  whom  some  mysterious 
ordination  had  sent  to  take  refuge  among  us.  Yet  we  have 
no  mercy  upon  the  merciful;  we  seize  the  advantage  of  His 
human  form,  and  through  His  assumed  mortality  afflict 
Uiai  with  the  death  of  robbers  and  murderers.  Can  you 
bear  the  thought  of  such  atrocious  ingratitude?  Is  it  in 
your  nature  to  conceive  the  actual  commission  of  it  by  your 
own  hands  ?  To  be  unmoved  by  a  friendship  that  passes 
all  examples  of  devotion ;  to  be  hardened  to  reasonings  of 
exquisite  applicability  and  truth ;  to  deny  the  day  when 
the  light  is  shining  into  your  eyes, — is  this  conceivable  ? 
Christian  Brethren!  rejnember  Nathan's  reply  to  David! 
As  near  as  it  is  possible  for  any  living  being  to  approach 
the  Sin  of  Israel,  so  near  do  those  approach  who  in  our 
time  desert  the  banner  of  the  Redeemer!  You  cannot 
directly  insult  His  form  on  earth,  you  cannot  weave  the 
bloody  coronet  for  the  brows  of  the  King  of  kings,  you 
cannot  with  your  own  hands  nail  Him  to  the  accursed  tree; 
but  you  can  (an  apostle  declares  it)  "  crucify  to  yourselves 
the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  Him  to  an  open  shame." 
Do  you  take  advantage  of  the  terrible  privilege  ?  Do  you 
exult  in  this  figurative  crucifixion  of  your  Lord,  and  thus 
identify  yourselves  with  His  murderers?  Oh,  fellow- 
Christians!  before  every  one  of  you  this  night  hath  "Jesus 
Christ  been  evidently  set  forth,"  as  before  the  Galatians, 
"crucified  among  you."  Will  you  learn  the  awful  history 
only  to  copy  it?  Opportunities  abound  for  the  crime.  He 
who  persecutes  the  least  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  perse- 
cutes Christ  Himself.  He  who  reviles  the  Gospel,  reviles 
Him  who  sent  it;  and  cries,  "Crucify  Him!  crucify  Him!" 
evermore  from  the  depths  of  his  heart.  If  the  wretched 
Jew  had  the  visible  Christ  to  assail,  have  not  we  the  Christ 
that  is  accurately  reflected  in  the  Gospel?  if  he  had  a  Christ 


SERM.  XVII.]      The  Ingratitude  of  the  Jews. 


263 


to  behold,  have  not  we  a  Christ  to  contemplate?  But  no, — 
you  will  with  God's  blessing,  cherish  better  thoughts.  You 
will  not  begin  by  bidding  "  Christ  depart  from  your  coasts," 
and  end  by  crucifying  Him.  Xay  rather  let  me  trust  that 
you  will  learn  more  and  more  to  be  "crucified  with  Christ," 
as  the  apostle  says  he  continually  was ;  that  like  him  you 
will  learn  to  "  crucify  the  flesh  with  the  affections  and 
lusts,"  until  at  length  you  reach  that  sublimest  point  of  all 
with  which  he  closes  his  epistle,  when  he  declares  that  by 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  the  world  is  crucified  unto  him, 
and  he  unto  the  world !"  Such  a  state  of  heart  and  soul 
prayer  alone  can  bring;  and  to  prayer  and  the  God  of 
prayer  I  leave  you ! 


SEllMON  XVIII. 


THE  ADVENT  EXALTS  HUMAN  KELATIONS. 

(Preached  for  the  Western  Lying-Iii  Hospital,  Duhlin,  December  2,  183S.  Advent 

Sunday.) 

And  she  brouftht  forth  her  first-born  son,  and  wrapped  him  in  swaddling  clothes, 
and  laid  him  in  a  manger ;  because  there  was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn. — 
Luke  ii.  7. 

AV^HEN  you  remember,  my  dear  Bretliren,  llic  peculiar 
aud  very  toucliing  occasion  on  wliicli  I  have  been  re- 
quested this  day  to  address  you,  as  well  as  the  solemn 
introductory  festival  wbicli  the  Church  celebrates  on  this 
day,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  the  asso- 
ciation by  which  the  passage  I  have  just  read  is  connected 
with,  my  present  labors.  Blessed  Christianity  !  Few  indeed 
are  the  occasions  of  benevolence  to  which  it  does  not 
furnish  motives, — or  impulses, — or  examples, — or  sugges- 
tions! Few  are  the  forms  of  human  sorrow  demanding 
human  relief,  which  will  not  be  found  represented  in  a 
shape  more  affecting  and  more  exalted  in  those  pages  of 
which  the  divine  Ilero  was  "a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief."  And  common  as,  in  one  form 
or  other,  is  that  woi'k  of  charity  which  I  am  now  called 
on  to  perform  among  you,  let  us  not  forget, — let  us  rejoice 
to  remember, — how  exclusively  it  is  a  Chnslian  work, — 
this  business  of  public  appeal  for  public  benevolence  upon 
religious  grounds  and  motives.    Antiquity  knew  nothing 


SERM.  XVIII.]    The  Advent  exalts  Human  Relations.  265 

of  it ;  we  ourselves  know  nothing  of  it  until  every  lower 
motive  either  fails  in  strength,  or  is  misplaced  in  appli- 
cation. As  long  as  the  ordinary  business  of  the  world  is 
in  progress,  worldly  motives  are  sufficient  to  keep  the 
wheels  of  the  vast  machinery  in  ceaseless  activity;  now 
and  then  they  may  have  energy  for  even  a  better  sphere  of 
operation  ;  men  from  a  sense  of  interest  will  be  just,  from  a 
natural  affection  will  be  sometimes  sincerely  kind.  The 
enthusiasm  of  ^ar^y  will  often  incidentally  urge  to  vast 
and  real  sacrifices ;  and  men  will  do  good  to  some  of  their 
fellow-creatures,  to  vex  and  exasperate  others !  But  these 
are  low  motives,  degrading  motives,  at  best  weak,  because 
occasional  and  limited,  motives ;  and  when  more  than  this 
poor  and  perverted  benevolence  is  wanting,  when  deeper 
springs  of  mercy  must  be  sought,  and  demands  more 
pressing  urged  upon  the  heart,  the  lever  that  is  to  stir  the 
mass  must  be  fixed  upon  the  Gosj)el  as  its  fulcrum !  A 
new  body  of  motives  must  be  summoned  into  action. 
"The  powers  of  the  world  to  come"  must  be  brought  to 
vivify  the  cold  and  deadly  feebleness  of  the  world  that  is 
now.  If  earth  is  to  be  regenerated,  Heaven  must  be 
opened;  and  the  Form  of  Immortal  Love  that  is  there 
enthroned  must  be  disenshrouded  of  its  veil  of  clouds,  to 
transform,  by  the  penetrating  power  of  its  glories  seen  and 
known,  the  adoring  heart  into  His  own  image  and  like- 
ness [ 

And  I  have  to  speak  to  you  this  day  of  claims  thus 
elevated  by  every  heavenly  consecration,  as  well  as  en- 
deared by  every  human  tie.  We  approach  in  time, — let 
us  also  approach  in  thought — the  sacred  season  of  Bethle- 
hem,— the  announcing  angels,  and  the  worshipping  sages ! 
Let  us  upon  this  advent  festival  feel  ourselves  where  we 
are, — in  the  early  twilight  of  the  Christian  dawn  ;  the  clouds 
faintly  tinged  with  the  promise  of  the  yet  unrisen  Sun. 
Such  a  time, — and  all  its  crowd  of  recollections, — will 
plead  for  those  for  whom  I  can  but  feebly  plead.  And 
VOL.  II.— 23 


266 


The  Advent  exalts  [serm.  xviii. 


having  to  speak  for  woman  in  her  most  touching  character, 
— her  most  fearful  earthly  trial, — I  thought  it  well  to 
remind  you  of  mm  who  was  pleased  to  enter  upon 
humanity  as  you  have  done,  to  connect  Himself  in  the 
relationship  of  childhood  with  an  earthly  mother,  and  in 
the  voluntary  humiliation  of  His  birth  to  sanctify  that 
destitution, — that  poverty  embittering  the  natural  agony 
of  the  hour, — which  you  are  this  morning  called  upon  to 
respect  and  to  relieve. 

Let  us  then  pause  for  awhile  upon  this  great  model, — 
thus  beautifying  every  natural  relationship,  and  entering 
into  the  world  He  created  in  order  to  re-create  it  after  a 
diviner  fashion.  Let  us  regard  Him  as  He  came  among  us, 
— a  Man  among  His  brethren  ;  so  mysterious,  yet  so  simple, 
yea, — the  more  mysterious  in  His  very  simplicity ! 

Why,  then,  was  it, — that  the  Eternal  Son, — when  He 
abandoned  that  "  glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father  be- 
fore the  world  was,"  and  determined  to  be  "  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus," — why  was  it  that,  instead  of  wonders  in  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  attending  His  coming, — the  convulsion 
and  terror  of  a  universe  attesting  the  descent  of  the  God- 
head into  His  creation, — He  was  pleased  to  make  His 
apparition  on  the  scene  of  the  world  even  as  others  do ; — 
to  be  the  Infant  and  the  Child  before  He  was  the  Man ; 
to  be  subject  to  the  filial  obligation  in  the  fulness  of 
its  legitimate  extent ;  and  to  be  all  this  in  a  situation  in 
which  such  ties  were  stripped  of  all  that  could  recommend 
them  apart  from  their  own  intrinsic  value, — a  situation  in 
which  wealth  could  not  adorn,  nor  authority  dignify, 
them  ? 

Not  to  delay  upon  other  explanations  of  this  fact,  and  to 
dwell  more  forcibly  upon  that  which  more  directly  con- 
cerns our  present  purpose, — assuredly  one  prominent  reason 
was, — that  separating,  by  means  so  much  more  intelligible 
than  argumentative  statements,  what  was  essentially  excel- 
lent in  human  nature  from  its  depravations  and  corruptions, 


SERM.  XVIII.] 


Human  Relations. 


267 


He  might  bestow  a  special  dignity  upon  those  primary  con- 
nections of  human  life  upon  which  the  rest  so  mainly 
dejjend,  and  in  which  the  tenderer  and  better  affections 
of  the  heart  find,  and  were  meant  by  our  Creator  to  find, 
their  peculiar  sphere  of  exercise.  Nothing  can  more  truly 
show  that  Nature  and  Eevelation  came  from  the  same  hand, 
than  the  assumption  into  Revelation  of  all  that  is  innocent 
in  Nature.  When  God  as  Creator  of  the  world  bound 
together  all  the  variety  of  human  connections  by  all  the 
variety  of  corresponding  affections,  he  wrought  a  work 
destined  for  everlasting ;  dispensations  may  change,  but 
these  things  are  not  meant  to  change ;  the  second  and 
higher  revelation  did  not  purpose  to  obliterate  them,  it  pre- 
supposed them,  it  encouraged  them,  it  consecrated  them 
with  the  blessing  of  the  skies.  And  thus  it  is  that  when 
from  the  perusal  of  the  New  Testament,  a  man  descends 
into  the  charities  of  social  life,  things  do  not  seem  changed 
in  their  position,  but  wonderfully  beautified  in  their  com- 
plexion ;  a  diviner  glow  rests  upon  them  and  a  holier  sanc- 
tity. There  is  a  change,  but  it  is  a  change  that  adorns 
without  disturbing.  It  is  as  if  a  man  who  had  lived  in  a 
twilight  world  where  all  was  dimly  revealed  and  coldly 
colored,  were  suddenly  to  be  surprised  with  the  splendors 
of  a  summer  noon.  Objects  would  still  remain,  and  rela- 
tions be  still  unbroken ;  but  new  and  lovely  lights  and 
shadowings  would  cover  them ; — they  would  move  in  the 
same  directions  as  before ;  but  under  an  atmosphere  impreg- 
nated with  brighter  hues,  and  rich  with  a  light  that  streamed 
direct  from  heaven. 

Now,  as  I  have  intimated,  by  what  means  could  this 
high  result  hjive  been  attained  with  such  force,  directness, 
and  certainty,  as  has  been  eflected  in  the  adoption  by  our 
God  Himself  of  those  very  connections?  "By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them,"  was  His  own  maxim,  and  He  was 
willing  to  be  its  perfect  illustration.  How  feeble  was  the 
commandment  of  the  elder  law,  "Honor  thy  father  and 


268 


The  Advent  exalts  [SERM.  xvill. 


thy  mother," — compared  with  the  tacit  command  and  ovcr- 
whehning  inducement  which  the  believing  Christian  recog- 
nizes in  the  fact  that  God  Incarnate  Himself  was  obedient 
to  his  earthly  mother,  and  voluntarily  subject  to  even  a  re- 
puted father !  IIow  stern  the  aspect  of  that  precept  which 
under  implied  conditions  of  punishment  declares  the  invio- 
lability of  the  marriage  connection, — compared  with  the 
softening  grace  with  which  the  presence  of  the  Lord  hal- 
lowed a  poor  man's  marriage  at  Cana,  and  the  consecration, 
which,  in  adopting  it  as  the  emblem  of  Ilis  own  immortal 
bridal  with  the  Church  of  the  Eedeemed,  He  has  for  ever 
cast  around  the  ceremonial  of  a  Christian  Union  ! . . .  Yes !  it 
has  been  said  that  the  burial  of  Christ  has  sanctified  the 
grave;  it  may  as  truly  be  said  that  the  life  of  Christ  has 
sanctified  all  the  relations  of  human  existence.  If  in  pass- 
ing through  the  grave  on  His  return  to  the  throne  of  heaven, 
He  left  there  the  odor  of  His  transitory  presence, — as  truly 
has  He,  in  passing  whether  literally  or  spiritually  through 
all  the  holiest  connections  of  the  human  heart,  left  in  them 
an  ineffable  sanctity,  recast  them  under  holier  auspices, 
baptized  them  with  (as  it  were)  the  very  "waters  of  life," 
and  regenerated  them  into  the  types  and  symbols  of  im- 
mortality ! ...  If  we  were  to  conceive  a  God  upon  earth,  we 
would  surround  Him  with  that  which  seemed  to  m  the 
most  to  befit  His  presence,  as  the  most  to  declare  His  attri- 
butes. We  would  enshroud  Him  in  the  lightnings  of  the 
skies,  and  make  Him  speak  in  its  thunders :  if  He  descended 
at  all  to  the  level  of  humanity,  it  should  be  in  the  state  and 
equipage  of  a  monarch ;  He  should  move  encompassed  by 
an  imperial  retinue, — the  angel-warriors  of  heaven;  and 
His  very  favors  should  be  distributed  with  that  sovereign 
goodness  in  which  the  sovereignty  is  at  least  as  clearly  mani- 
fested as  the  goodness,  and  he  who  receives  is  made  to  feel 
that  he  is  indeed  a  receiver.  But  when  God  would  indeed 
be  man, — when,  having  of  old  "seen  that  all  was  good" 
He  now  saw  that  almost  all  was  evil,  and  would  once  more 


SEBM.  XVIII.] 


Human  Relations. 


269 


behold  it  as  He  made  it, — when,  this  high  resolve  of  Heaven 
was  indeed  to  be  realized, — He  looked  abroad  to  see  what 
in  humanity  was  worthiest  His  assumption.    The  splendors 
of  an  earthly,  a  provincial  monarchy,  could  not  attract  Him 
who  was  familiar  with  the  dignities  of  an  adoring  universe. 
But  there  was  that  which  even  He  could  regard  with  appro- 
bation.   From  that  store  He  selected  His  human  attributes : 
in  that  dress  He  invested  His  earthly  nature :  that  was  the 
true  mantle  of  His  royalty.    The  love  of  the  son  to  the 
parent  which  He  exemplified;  the  love  of  the  brother  to 
his  brethren,  which  He  felt ;  the  love  of  the  husband  to  the 
wife,  which  He  approved  and  typified ;  these  were  the  ele- 
ments of  humanity  which  their  Creator  did  not  think  un- 
worthy of  acceptance;  and  to  display  which,  in  the  long 
course  of  daily  life,  He  selected  a  position  among  the  varie- 
ties of  human  existence,  in  which,  apart  from  every  shade  or 
coloring  of  interest  or  ambition,  they  alone,  in  truth,  purity, 
and  fervor,  might  be  simply  and  unaffectedly  exhibited. 
And  to  those  who  can  read  His  divine  story  as  it  ought  to 
be  read,  not  even  when  He  shall  come  hereafter  in  the 
"  glory  yet  to  be  revealed,"  surrounded  by  all  those  beings 
of  light  whose  very  light  shall  be  but  the  reflection  of  His 
radiance ; — not  when  the  whole  elemental  system  shall, 
as  we  are  led  to  believe,  by  some  unimagined  process 
"  dissolve  with  fervent  heat"  befbre  the  terrors  of  His  pre- 
sence,— not  even  then  shall  a  more  celestial  glory  rest  upon 
His  form,  than,  when,  "  a  first-born  infant"  in  the  arms  of 
His  spotless  mother,  He  was  laid,  amid  her  tears,  in  that 
wretched  hovel, — assumed  the  feebleness  of  infancy,  and 
the  tender  subjection  of  childhood ;  and,  in  showing  us  by 
His  own  inestimable  example  what  sinless  man  should  be, 
left  us  every  pure  affection  unbroken,  and  only  fastened 
their  ties  more  permanently  by  linking  them  all  in  one 
blessed  bond  to  the  love  of  God  made  visible  in  Him ! 

So  far,  then,  you  can  perceive  a  strong  reason  for  the 
manner  of  Christ's  Incarnation, — for  His  Advent  among 

23* 


270 


The  Advent  exalts  [serm.  xviii. 


us  in  tlae  simplicity  of  our  ordinary  manhood.  You  can 
perceive  that  it  conferred  an  inexpressible  dignity  upon  the 
relation,  above  all  others,  of  the  mother  and  the  child : — 
and  I  would  add  that  of  His  design  to  exalt  this  as  well  as 
the  other  natural  relations,  to  make  them  high  and  sacred 
elements  in  the  religion  He  was  about  to  establish,  a  most 
lovely  proof  is  insinuated  in  the  constant  employment  of 
all  these  connections  and  feelings  to  symbolize  the  eternal 
realities  of  the  spiritual  world.  We  may  easily  believe 
that  for  such  a  purpose,  only  those  elements  of  earth  would 
be  adopted  which  possessed  a  kind  of  natural  holiness, 
preparing  them  to  be  the  types  of  these  celestial  connec- 
tions. Love  itself,  in  all  its  forms,  would  seem  to  be  the 
type  or  image  of  some  still  diviner  affection  of  which  man 
is  susceptible  towards  God ;  so  that  the  earthly  exercise  of 
this  (and  similar)  virtuous  emotions,  might  be  a  kind  of 
preparatory  discipline  for, — at  least  a  shadowing  forth  of, 
— that  future  exhaustion  of  the  whole  soul  upon  the  Su- 
preme Excellence  of  God  manifest  in  Christ,  in  which  it  is, 
over  and  over  again,  intimated  that  the  perfection  of  celes- 
tial blessedness  consists.  To  some  such  training  of  the 
heart  St  John  would  appear  to  refer  in  those  well-known 
words, — "  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother,  whom  he  hath 
seen,  how  can  he  love  God,  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ?"...  And 
in  intimating  the  nature  of  these  eternal  relationships,  I 
have  sometimes  thought  it  observable,  that  the  very  con- 
nections peculiarly  insisted  on  by  Christ,  were  those  in 
which  He  Himself  was  not  pleased  temporally  to  manifest 
Himself  upon  earth.  The  relation  of  fatherly  affection  in 
which  (as  displayed  to  man)  His  divinity  unites  Him  with 
His  own  divine  Parent,  is  one  of  these.  "  The  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty,"  is  (as  you  know)  a  pecu- 
liar title  of  the  faithful  of  Christ.  But  a  still  more  constant 
and  emphatic  instance  of  the  principle  is  the  relationship  of 
husband  and  wife  as  applied  to  the  everlasting  union  of 
Christ  and  His  Church;  on  which  I  need  scarcely  dwell, — 


SEEM.  XVIII.] 


numan  Relations. 


271 


as  you  must  be  aware  that  tlirougTi  every  part  of  the  pro- 
phecies,— through  remarkable  parables,  detached  expres- 
sions, and  even  miracles,  of  Christ  Himself, — and  through 
the  apostolic  epistles, — this  remarkable  figure  is  employed. 
Does  not  this  lavish  use,  as  applied  to  the  redeemed,  of  the 
very  titles  which  in  any  literal  sense  He  rejected, — seem 
as  if  the  Blessed  One,  while  here  on  earth,  had  purposely 
withdrawn  Himself  from  these  peculiar  connections,  in 
order  the  more  completely  to  concentrate  the  undivided 
affections  of  His  human  nature  upon  His  redeemed  follow- 
ers for  all  eternity  ?  And  it  is  remarkable  that  while  He 
rejected  this  literal  union  upon  earth,  His  followers,  to 
whom  it  is  permitted  upon  earth  in  His  absence,  are  to  be 
without  it  in  heaven,  where  it  is  expressly  affirmed  that 
"  there  is  neither  marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage," — but 
where  it  is  also  declared  that  "  the  marriage  supper  of  the 
Lamb  is  prepared,  and  His  wife  hath  made  herself  ready  I" 
. . .  There  is,  then,  there  is  in  the  world  to  come,  a  state  of 
being  which  shall  display  to  man  the  realities  among  whose 
shadows  he  is  here  and  now  a  wanderer;  there  is  something 
which  shall  not  deceive,  which  shall  not  disappoint,  which 
shall  not  disappear ;  something  which  shall  meet  the  full 
impulses  of  the  human  affections, — shall  raise  them,  by 
raising  their  objects, — shall  give  them  a  sacrcdncss  such  as 
even  in  their  present  beauty  (and  it  is  great)  they  cannot 
dare  to  claim : — there  is  an  object,  for  whom  we  are  made, 
and  out  of  whom  we  cannot  rest, — who  is  the  secret  want  of 
our  hearts  even  when  we  go  astray  from  Him;  and  whom 
we  desire,  when  we  knew  it  not. 

If  Christ,  then,  sanctified  some  of  our  affections  in  this 
world  by  assuming  them.  He  still  more  gloriously  exalted 
others  by  making  them  the  representations  of  the  attach- 
ments of  mortality.  On  lids  occasion  you  are  addressed 
in  reference  to  that  peculiar  condition  of  human  nature 
which  forms  the  common  basis  of  all  the  subsequent  rela- 
tions of  life ;  and  surely  I  do  not  err  in  believing  that  the 


272 


Tht  Advent  exalts  [serm.  xviii. 


Christian  tlius  appealed  to,  will  feel  a  new  claim  upon  him, 
in  considering  that  he  manifests  respect  for  what  Christ  re- 
spected, that  /ic  assists  those  to  whose  peculiar  circumstances 
God  Himself,  when  He  adopted  our  nature,  was  pleased  to 
add  inconceivable  dignity,  in  allowing  that  nature,  though 
miraculously  formed,  to  be  nevertheless  not  formed  as  Adam 
was  formed,  but,  in  the  language  of  the  Sacred  Kecord, 
"  made  of  a  woman." 

Yes, — the  passage  before  us  speaks  of  her  ;  it  speaks  not 
merely  of  the  "  first-born,"  but  of  her  who  bore  Him,  and 
whose  mysterious  agonies  were  unsupported  by  the  aids  of 
wealth  and  the  appliances  of  luxury, — who  was  rejected 
when  she  would  have  given  to  the  Immortal  Infant  the 
common  comforts  of  that  trying  hour,  and  who  had  to  place 
among  the  beasts  of  the  field,  less  insensate  than  man,  the 
"  life  of  the  world"  thus  cast  forth  to  die ! 

But  what  was-  this,  but  the  echo  of  a  distant  prophecy 
heard  across  four  thousand  years.  As  in  Adam  all  died, 
so  in  Christ  were  all  to  be  made  alive  ;  and  as  in  Eve  was 
the  occasion  of  the  fall,  so  in  a  daughter  of  Eve  was  the 
occasion  of  the  salvation.  The  "  seed  of  the  woman," 
destined  to  "bruise  the  head"  of  the  mystical  serpent, 
promised  so  long,  was  at  length  upon  the  earth;  the  powers 
of  hell  trembled  at  that  little  sufferer  ill-protected  from  the 
inclement  winds  by  one  poor  Jewish  maid  ;  and  the  angels 
of  heaven  pealed  forth  songs  of  rapturous  exultation  over 
Him  who  was  rejected  at  His  birth,  as  He  was  rejected  in 
His  life,  rejected  in  His  death, — as  He  is  at  this  hour  re- 
jected by  those  who  call  upon  His  name  but  have  never 
imbibed  his  love — by  them  (beloved !)  who  with  a  Bethle- 
hemite  spirit,  and  with  hearts  closed  to  the  distresses  of 
sisters,  in  that  fearful  trial,  cannot  pity  the  sorrows  of 
those  who  are  weeping  as  His  mother  wept ! 

But  we  will  not  dread  from  a  Gospel  pulpit  to  speak  of 
her  as  she  deserves.  The  melancholy  perversion  of  the 
Faith  which  has  since  so  largely  afflicted  the  Church  of 


SERM.  XVIII.] 


Suman  Relations. 


Christ  has  ascribed  to  that  "  blessed  among  women"  dis- 
tinctions scarcely  less  than  divine.  But  let  not  this  re-act, 
to  tempt  us  to  refuse  the  promised  tribute  of  honor  to  her 
whom  "all  generations"  were  "to  call  blessed."  Identified 
as  we  are  with  our  Divine  Master,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
receive  into  peculiar  and  holy  intimacy  that  honored  being 
to  whom  the  Son  of  God  was  so  long  subject,  and  whose 
will  (within  due  limitations)  He  was  so  long  pleased  to 
make  His  own.  The  adoring  disciple  of  Christ,  whose 
imagination  finds  its  happiest  exercise  among  the  sacred 
abodes  of  Nazareth,  learns  to  love  almost  as  a  parent  her 
whom  Jesus  loved  as  such ;  and  joins  in  spirit  that  sainted 
disciple,  whom  Christ  made,  as  it  were,  His  inheritor  in 
filial  affection  ("Woman,  behold  thy  son/")  and  who,  com- 
missioned by  the  dying  Redeemer,  bore  the  maiden-mother 
to  his  own  home. .  .How  wondrous, — how  unfelt  before  or 
since, — the  communion  of  that  mother  and  that  Son ! 
With  the  full  remembrance  of  His  supernatural  descent,  to 
sit  at  the  same  daily  table  for  all  those  long  and  untold 
years  that  preceded  the  public  ministry  of  the  Great  Pro- 
phet ;  to  tender  all  those  thousand  gentle  offices  of  life 
which  a  mother  alone  can  know,  to  a  Divine  Child ;  to 
recognize  in  Him  at  once  the  babe  of  her  bosom  and  the 
God  of  her  immortality ;  to  catch  ever  and  anon  those  mystic 
echoes  of  eternity  which  the  deeper  tones  of  his  converse, 
would  reveal,  and  to  behold,  plainer  and  plainer  as  He 
grew,  the  lineaments  of  the  God  impressed  upon  the  won- 
drous inmate  of  her  humble  home, — glimpses  of  the 
heaven  that  was  within,  traces  of  the  language  of  the  skies, 
— (she  still,  with  that  serene  observance  which  seems  to 
have  been  her  special  character,  "  kee2:)ing  all  these  sayings 
and  pondering  them  in  her  heart,") — surely,  these  were  ex- 
periences to  dignify  that  mother  in  our  thoughts, — yea,  to 
give  a  glory  and  a  hallowing  to  maternity  itself  forever ! 

One  point  above  all  others  added  a  peculiar  interest  to 
that  wondrous  connection.    The  Virgin  and  her  Son  stood 


274 


The  Advent  exalts 


[SERM.  XVIII, 


alone  in  the  world  !  alone  in  tlic  long  line  of  the  human 
race !  He  with  whom  she  was  so  awfully  yet  endearingly 
connected,  could  acknowledge  no  earthly  father,  nq  author 
of  His  humanity,  but  that  overshadowing  Spirit  by  whose 
mysterious  operation  He  had  been  invested  with  our 
nature.  "  She  brought  forth  her  first-born  Son,"  and,  as 
though  she  were  a  widowed  mother,  none  stood  by  who 
could  soothe  her  sorrows  and  share  her  love  for  the  new- 
born infant,  with  the  anxious  sympathies  of  a  father. . .  I 
know  with  what  virulence  this  divine  mystery  has  been  of 
late  assailed,  I  am  aware  of  the  unceasing  efforts  of  what 
is  ostentatiously  called  Unitarian  Christianity  to  undermine 
the  Scriptural  proofs  of  a  fact  to  which  (as  you  all  are 
aware)  the  Record  bears  such  evidence  that  it  can  only  be 
questioned  by  questioning  the  genuineness  of  the  Record 
itself ;  and  which  is,  in  point  of  reason  and  the  nature  of 
the  case,  manifestly  required  in  consistency  with  the  whole 
purpose  of  the  Advent  and  the  Atonement  of  Christ.  To 
enter  into  such  discussions  is  not  my  object  now.  Though 
(it  is  true)  the  great  fact  in  the  text,  and  the  natural  con- 
nections of  the  object  on  which  I  have  been  commissioned 
to  address  you,  might  warrant  them,  I  would  be  unwilling 
to  trespass  on  what  is  (after  all)  the  more  special  theme  of 
another  and  greater  festival ;  even  if  my  time  permitted 
these  minuter  inquiries.  It  may  sufl&ce  to  say  that  on  an 
occasion  like  this  I  cannot  venture  to  detain  you  beyond  a 
very  limited  time  ; — and  yet  shall  I  pass  the  subject  with- 
out a  word  ?  To  oppose  the  uniform  belief  of  the  Church 
(which  indeed  has  rather  inclined  to  exaggerate  than  to 
depreciate  the  dignity  of  the  virgin-mother),  to  oppose  the 
unequivocal  testimony  of  Scripture,  there  seems  to  be  (ex- 
cept the  utterly  unsuccessful  attempt  to  discredit  the 
genuineness  of  the  narration)  but  one  universal  objection, 
— the  same  to  this  as  to  all  other  doctrines  that  transcend 
ordinary  experience, — that  the  thing  is  an  incomprehensible 
"  mystery."    The  Church  is  in  this  holy  season  peculiarly 


SEEM.  XVIII.] 


Human  Relations. 


276 


busied  with  her  mysteries  ;  I  cannot  then  but  pause,  while 
speaking  of  the  great  mystery  declared  in  the  text,  to  ask, 
are  we  indeed  the  fools  these  men  would  paint  us,  to 
believe  such  ?  They  would  have  a  Christianity  purged  of 
mysteries,  or  none ;  a  Christianity  without  trinity  of  per- 
sons, or  duality  of  natures,  or  miraculous  conception,  or 
atoning  redemption,  or  sanctifying  Spirit ;  and  all  these 
exclusions  equally,  because  they  are  mysteries.  They  are 
told  that  the  object  of  this  religion  is  to  bring  together 
earth  and  heaven, — a  world  which  we  know  little  with  a 
world  of  which  we  know  nothing ;  and  they  expect  to  have 
the  details  of  such  a  conjunction  level  to  their  capacities. 
They  are  told  that  God  has  interfered  with  the  fortunes  of 
man ;  and  they  expect  the  mighty  transaction  to  proceed 
as  simply  as  an  ordinary  treaty  of  peace.  They  admit  that 
God  has  condescended  to  enlighten  His  creatures  ;  yet  they 
are  obstinate  in  refusing  to  take  any  thing  from  Him  on 
trust.  They  concede  that  the  preliminaries  of  ages  were 
not  considered  too  much  to  herald  the  Advent  of  this  great 
epoch;  that  that  "day"  seen  through  the  vista  of  two 
thousand  years,  was  enough  to  make  glad  the  heart  of  one 
patriarch, — nay,  that  the  patriarch  of  the  human  race  him- 
self was  permitted  to  see  in  it  the  source  of  all  his  consola- 
tion ;  that  a  polity  singular  in  the  history  of  the  world  was 
for  centuries  maintained  for  the  sole  purpose  of  evidencing 
and  illustrating  and  preparing  it ;  that  miracles  and  pro- 
digies, each  enough  to  make  the  foundation  of  a  separate 
system,  were,  aggregated  together,  only  worthy  to  be  the 
faint  precursors  of  this  Master  Wonder ;  that  figures,  each 
worthy  alone  to  occupy  the  full  breadth  and  height  of  an 
ordinary  painting  were  only  the  accessories  of  the  mighty 
and  prominent  form  of  that  mystic  Being  who  fills  the 
foreground  of  the  Christian  Picture  : — and  yet,  admitting 
all,  or  nearly  all,  this ;  obliged  to  confess  that,  explain  it  as 
we  may,  the  whole  subject  comes  to  us  from  on  high  and 
clothed  in  the  light  of  other  worlds, — these  objectors, 


276 


The  Advent  exalts  [serm.  xviii. 


tliougli  drenclicd  ia  mysteries,  when  they  come  to  the 
Scriptural  testimonies  to  the  miraculous  conception,  and 
personal  dignity,  and  mystical  offices,  of  Christ, — suddenly 
assume  the  utmost  minuteness  of  sceptical  caution  ;  set  to 
work  every  refinement  of  criticism  to  extort  inanity  out  of 
expressions  the  most  positive  and  unequivocal ;  stamp 
folly  on  the  Old  Testament  in  order  to  rationalize  the  New; 
contend  implicitly  (in  this  endeavor  to  unmiracle  the  advent 
and  the  person  of  Christ)  that  the  vast  organization  of 
Judaism  was,  after  all,  a  preparation  in  which  nothing  was 
prepared,  a  porch  without  an  edifice,  a  cypher  without  a 
solution ;  in  short, — after  groping  through  a  labyrinth  of 
preliminary  mystery,  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  mystery 
which  alone  can  make  all  the  rest  cease  to  be  such  ! 

But  you,  my  friends,  I  trust,  have  not  "so  learned 
Christ"  or  Christ's  gospel.  You  are  willing  to  concede  to 
your  adorable  Master  that  dignity  which  really  exalts  our 
nature  by  exalting  His ;  you  are  willing  to  admit  that  He, 
and  she  who  bore  the  hallowed  title  of  His  earthly  mother, 
were  connected  in  ties  such  as  they  alone  have  ever  held : 
— you  are  willing  to  acknowledge  that  in  that  awful  hour 
of  Bethlehem  there  must  have  mingled  with  the  sorrows  of 
the  outcast  virgin  the  trembling  joys  of  one  who  knew  her- 
self the  supernatural  channel  of  the  Hope  of  the  human 
race :  and  that,  though  she  might  own  to  the  feebleness  of 
the  woman  in  that  hour  of  trial,  and  deplore  amid  the  un- 
worthy accompaniments  of  such  a  scene  that  "  low  estate" 
of  "  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord"  which  had  reduced  her  to 
them,  yet  that  as  she  gazed  upon  that  eternal  Child  in  whom 
was  bound  the  regeneration  of  Israel,  of  the  world, — "  her 
soul  could  magnify  the  Lord,"  "  and  her  spirit  rejoice  in 
Ood  her  Saviour  P'' 

If  you  can  indeed  reflect  those  feelings,  and  sympathize 
with  that  blessed  mother  in  her  fears,  her  hopes,  her  joys, 
— your  hearts  are  attuned  as  I  would  have  them ;  and  your 


SERM.  XVIII.] 


Human  Relations. 


277 


thoughts  from  her  sorrows  will  descend  without  difficulty 
to  those  sorrows  which  are  like  hers  in  their  agony  but 
not  like  hers  in  their  consolations.  The  terrible  decree 
"In  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth,"  might  be  considered  in 
some  degree  alleviated  or  counterbalanced  in  her  case,  by 
the  high  consciousness  of  a  supernatural  destiny  and  the 
confidence  of  Divine  protection  it  naturally  included.  But 
there  are  those  around  you  and  among  you,  who  have  no 
such  internal  restoratives.  There  are  those  who,  with  all 
the  physical  terrors  that  in  all  ranks  belong  to  such  a 
period,  labor  under  the  additional  horrors  of  a  poverty  far 
deeper  than  that  which  afflicted  the  mother  of  the  Lord  of 
life ;  those  to  whom  the  shed  at  Bethlehem, — miserable  as 
it  was, — would  at  least  afford  an  undisturbed  retreat,  would 
offer  shelter  from  the  wind  and  rain.  But  God  alone,  and 
those  whom,  as  missionaries  of  charity,  the  benevolent 
purposes  of  this  or  similar  institutions  conduct  into  the 
darker  retreats  of  destitution  in  this  city,  know  what  is  the 
real  extent  of  human  wretchedness  around  us, — to  what 
unutterable  depths  human  life  may  sink,  and  yet  exist  I 
Crowds  immured  in  a  single  house,  separated, — and  scarcely 
separated, — by  crumbling  walls  and  floors;  not  one  of  whom 
can  perhaps  count  with  certainty  upon  the  food  of  a  single 
day;  creatures  whom  mi.sery  has  almost  deprived  of  the 
feelings  of  that  common  nature  which  seems  to  have 
deserted  them  as  outcasts.  To  this  condition  the  perpetual 
fluctuations  of  trade  will  often  in  a  week  reduce  men  who 
still  are  prevented  from  common  mendicancy  by  lingering 
feelings  of  independence  ;  who,  though  they  cannot  "dig," 
are  still  "to  beg  ashamed."  But  in  such  a  crisis  a  man  can 
still  make  head  against  utter  despair;  though  the  check  be 
wan  with  hunger,  and  the  limbs  feeble,  and  the  heart  sick 
with  that  sickness  which  no  medicine  can  heal,  and  the 
Demon  be  at  hand  to  whisper  crime, — yet  the  energies  of  a 
man  are  not  to  be  crushed  by  a  blow,  there  is  a  faint  vitality 
in  the  darkest  misery,  that,  till  nature  fails,  preserves  a  spark 
VOL.  11. — 24 


278 


The  Advent  exaUs 


[SERM.  XVIII. 


of  hope.  But  wlicn,  to  tliut  sex  whose  delicate  organiza- 
tion is  always  more  susceptible  of  impressions,  the  terrors 
accede  of  an  hour  which  even  the  best  aids  of  prosperity 
are  weak  to  lighten;  when  in  the  midst  of  cold,  and  starva- 
tion and  the  multiplied  forms  of  misery,  the  heart-broken 
mother  knows  that  the  time  is  come  when  she  is  to  add  a 
new  victim  to  the  mass  of  wretchedness  around  her;  and. 
when  amidst  the  distraction  of  the  scene, — the  noise, — the 
discomfort, — those  "pangs  of  a  woman  in  travail"  become 
hers  which  have  been  employed  by  blessed  lips  to  express 
the  extremity  of  human  anguish, — -what  a  situation  is  hers? 
how  she  learns  that  there  can  be  a  misery  more  deplorable 
than  poverty,  more  acute  than  hunger !... When  the  blessed 
virgin  brought  forth  in  poverty,  "  she  brought  forth  her 
first-horn  Son,"  but  oh!  with  the  majority  of  these  whom 
you  are  called  upon  to  aid,  how  diflerent  is  the  case !  Sur- 
rounded by  the  previous  heirs  of  poverty,  the  miserable 
mother  in  these  gloomy  abodes  of  destitution  has  the  em- 
bittering feeling,  that  to  a  family  already  outgrowing  the 
means  of  subsistence  she  is  adding  a  new,  unwelcome 
claimant;  and  in  the  dark,  perverted,  feelings  of  want 
(which  so  disnatures  man!)  who  can  doubt  that  to  her 
anguish  is  often  added  the  bitter  sarcasm  of  the  wretched 
husband,  or  the  still  more  wretched  children,  who  murmur 
that  the  fraction  of  food  should  be  still  diminished  to  provide 
for  the  wants  of  a  stranger !... Brethren,  how  can  I  think  of 
such  scenes  as  these,  and  not  recall  the  difference  of  posi- 
tion in  which  the  same  trial  finds  those  whom  Providence, 
of  its  free  mercy,  has  placed  in  your  rank  of  society,  and 
gifted  with  your  command  of  resources?  It  is  true,  no 
earthly  power  can  rob  that  agony  of  its  sting ;  the  primal 
curse  made  no  distinction  of  classes;  and  God  fixed  that 
terrible  transmission  of  punishment  on  grounds  too  radicul 
and  permanent  to  admit  of  evasion  by  human  skill.  But 
to  the  lady  of  affluence,  who  reclines  in  the  midst  of  a  silence 
which  even  the  stealthy  tread  of  the  attendant  fears  to 


SERM.  XVIII.] 


Human  ReJatims. 


279 


break ;  whose  slumbers  are  encouraged  by  all  the  soothing 
appliances  of  medicine,  and  before  whose  muffled  doors  the 
very  streets  are  carpeted  lest  they  should  ruffle  her  repose ; 
to  her,  above  all,  whose  languid  eyes, — when  they  do  un- 
close,— rest  upon  those  who,  undisturbed  by  the  contracting 
calculations  of  poverty,  are  read}'^  to  make  every  conceiv- 
able sacrifice  to  buy  her  a  single  hour  of  peace,  and  whose 
affection,  always  earnest,  is  quickened  in  intensity,  and 
attempered  to  a  more  refined  delicacy  of  attention,  by  tlie 
circumstances  in  which  she  is  placed, — to  lier  the  terrible 
trial,  when  it  does  come,  at  least  comes  lightened  of  all  its 
external  terrors,  and  alleviated  by  the  very  consciousness 
of  the  love  it  calls  into  action.  I  would  not  claim, — it  is 
not  the  will  of  the  great  Author  of  rank  and  subordina- 
tion,— that  comforts  so  high  and  peculiar  as  these  should 
be  the  comforts  of  all ;  but  I  icoulcl  claim  that  the  common 
necessaries  of  life's  most  trying  hour, — the  few  days  of 
undisturbed  repose,  and  the  ordinary  aids  of  medical  sci- 
ence,— should  be  unprovided  to  none!  I  would  claim  that 
the  officers  of  this  most  benevolent  Charity, — whose  sphere 
is  a  population  of  70,000  human  beings  (for  all  are  equally 
interested  in  a  mother's  health !) — occupying  nine  entire 
parishes,  the  poorest  in  your  city, — should  be  aided  in  their 
work  of  mercy; — that  after  alleviating  the  sufferings  of 
1570  of  our  poor  sisters  during  the  five  years  of  its  exist- 
ence, it  should  not  now  be  enfeebled  in  its  resources.  Not- 
withstanding every  effort  of  economy,  the  poverty  of  the 
district  so  often  demanded  its  aids,  tliat,  althougli  sacrifices 
most  creditable  were  made  by  the  medical  ofiiccrs,  the  debt 
of  the  Institution  is  now  considerable.  This  miriht  have 
been  evaded  by  the  cold  severity  of  determined  rejection; 
it  might  have  been  evaded  by  turning  away  the  eyes  from 
the  misery  that  surrounded  them;  by  hearing  without  pity 
the  shrieks  of  the  destitute,  and  resolutely  suppressing  the 
compassion  which  even  the  practised  experience  of  the 
physician  cannot  help  feeling,  at  some  of  the  forms  of 


280         The  Advent  exalts  Human  Relations,  [serm.  xvill. 


human  woe; — bad  tliis  been  done,  you  miglit  have  been 
spared  thi^  appeal,— but  would  you  have  it  so  ?  Conceive, 
then,  that  you  are  each  of  you  tendering  your  relief  to  that 
individual  case  whose  expenses  your  contribution  will 
enable  the  Institution  to  defray  I  Imagine  that  you  see 
the  misery,  which,  whether  you  see  it  or  not,  is  truly 
around  you.  Mothers !  remember  your  own  hour  of  peril 
and  sympathize  with  your  sisters  in  sorrow !  Fathers ! 
remember  your  anxieties,  your  fears,  your  hopes!  and  think 
of  those  who  can  rival  you  in  anxiety  and  fear;  but  who 
have  no  hopes"  but  those  which  this  day  is  to  bring  them  I 
But  why  do  I  delay  upon  these  lesser  claims?  Christians 
of  whatever  sex,  or  class,  or  calling !  remember  her  who 
was  agonized  as  these  wretched  mothers  were  and  are 
agonized ;  her  who  bore  her  "  first-born"  as  the  poor  bear 
theirs,  and  thus  for  ever  dignified  maternal  destitution: 
remember  Him  who  even  in  infancy  "  had  not  where  to  lay 
His  head,"  and  to  whom  no  retreat  like  this  was  open ;  but 
who,  assuredly,  wlien  tliat  Great  Day  comes,  at  which  we 
all  shall  meet  again, — and  when  the  love  to  the  disciple 
is  accepted  (He  has  promised  it!)  as  love  to  Himself, — 
will  not  forget  that  2^^cidiar  form  of  charity,  which,  along 
with  all  its  other  claims,  may  recall  to  His  Divine  Remem- 
brance, the  weeping  mother  of  Bethlehem,  and  that  Infant 
who  was  "  laid  in  the  manger  because  there  was  no  room 
for  them  at  the  inn  !" 


SERMON  XIX. 

DANGER  OF  BACKSLIDING. 

(Preached  at  St  Anne's  Chnrch,  Dawson  Street,  July  2, 1837.) 

Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy  first 
love. — Revklatiox  ii.  4. 

Whether  the  exhortations  contained  in  the  second  and 
third  chapters  of  the  Apocalypse  were  primarily  directed 
to  the  Churches  themselves  which  arc  there  specified,  or  to 
the  presiding  Bishops  exclusively,  who  are  in  each  case 
entitled  the  "  Angels"  of  tlie  respective  communities, — is 
a  point  which  has  occasioned  much  discussion.  Perhaps 
the  truth  may  lie  in  a  medium  between  both.  On  the  one 
hand,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  title  "Angels"  is  in- 
tended for  the  superintending  ministers  of  these  Churches; 
the  metaphor  (from  the  heavenl}'-  to  the  earthly  ministers 
of  God)  is  itself  natural ;  and  the  application  is  confirmed 
in  this  instance  by  the  general  consent  of  the  Ancient 
Church.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  expressions  in  the 
exhortations  themselves  which  seem  to  overpass  an  indi- 
vidual application ; — and  the  Spirit  seems  to  make  con- 
stant transitions  from  the  condition  of  the  minister  to  the 
condition  of  the  flock, — or  rather  (perhaps  I  might  .say)  to 
identify  the  fortunes  of  both,  and  interweave  together  the 
contemplation  of  their  destinies. 

In  the  sentence  I  have  read,  this  doublcncss  of  applica- 

24* 


282 


Danger  of  Bachsliding.  [serm.  XIX. 


tion  is  certainly  both  possible  and  instructive.  Every  one 
knows — too  many  by  melancholy  experience — what  it  is  to 
abandon  the  first  love"  of  the  adoring  Spirit ;  what  it  is 
to  have  known  the  bliss  of  entire  communion  with  a 
heavenly  Parent — awful  as  God  but  tender  too  as  man, — 
to  have  withdrawn  the  heart  from  everything  transient  and 
perishable  to  fix  it  in  undoubting  faith  upon  the  Immuta- 
ble and  Eternal, — to  have  felt  in  the  very  novelty  and 
wonder  of  the  emotion  a  proud  confidence  that  it  could 
never  pass  away, — and  yet  to  have  known  it  pass  away 
gradually  but  utterly,  the  world  again  insensibly  return- 
ing, the  poisonous  waters  again  filling  every  one  of  their 
old  channels,  the  chain  again  tightening  round  the  heart, 
and  the  emancipated  freedman  of  God  once  more  lying 
down  in  contented  slavery.  There  are  those,  the  Great 
Teacher  has  declared,  who  "  hear  the  word,  and  anon  with 
joy  receive  it ;  yet  have  no  root  in  themselves,  but  endure 
only  for  a  while."  With  such  cases  we  are  all  familiar ; 
they  are  the  standard  subjects  of  the  unhappy  mockeries 
of  infidelity ;  as  if  our  divine  Master  had  not  with  a  pencil 
of  light  drawn  the  portrait  of  such,  and  forewarned  us 
that  these  things  were  to  be. 

Now  as  the  application  to  the  individual  is  but  too  clear 
and  justifiable,  so  is  the  application  to  the  general  body  of 
the  Church,  or  of  Churches,  fraught  with  terrors  scarcely 
less  impressive.  And  it  is  in  this  point  of  view  that  I  mean 
this  day  to  consider  the  case.  I  do  so,  brethren,  in  direct 
reference  to  the  peculiar  occasion  on  which  I  have  been 
requested  to  address  you.  The  work  which  I  am  to  ask 
you  to  promote,  is  a  work  which  eminently  recalls  us  to  the 
principles  and  the  obligations  of  our  Church  Union ;  which 
sinks  the  individual  in  the  community;  and  which  I  will 
not  stoop  to  asking  you  to  further  on  any  grounds  but  those 
of  that  sacred  tie  that  binds  you  in  the  unity  of  the  Body 
of  Christ  with  any  the  humblest  baptized  believer.  I  ask 
you  to  support  and  shelter  these  fatherless  little  ones,  not 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  BacJcslidinj. 


283 


merely  because  you  are  individual  believers  in  Christ  and 
thence  bound  to  works  of  mercy,  but  because  of  a  relation 
above  and  beyond  this, — because  no  believer  (if  I  might  so 
speak)  is  individual,  his  individuality  is  merged  in  his 
membership,  he  is  one  of  many — of  many  who  are  one ! 
I  would  recall  to  you  those  enormous  obligations,  so  often 
disguised  or  forgotten,  which  in  God's  sight  you  owe  to  that 
Holy  Catholic  Church,  in  the  most  favored  division  of  which 
you  are  born,  to  its  laws,  to  its  ministers,  to  its  members, — 
yea,  to  the  humblest  and  weakest  infant  that  has  ever  been 
borne  to  its  font,  and  baptized,  as  you  were,  into  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost! 

The  passage  before  us  supplies  a  ready — God  grant  it 
may  be  a  profitable — opportunity  for  the  application  I  pro- 
pose. 

What  an  example  of  the  melancholy  frailty  of  human 
nature  is  presented  in  the  fortunes  of  these  famous  Churches 
of  the  Apocalypse !  Planted  by  Apostles,  nurtured  with 
the  blood  of  Martyrs,  animated  by  the  effusion  of  the  Spirit 
in  miracle  and  prophecy,  ministered  to  by  the  most  con- 
spicuous saints  of  the  first  age  of  Christianity  as  their 
Bishops  and  Pastors,  constantly  visited  by  the  inspired 
messengers  of  God,  and  (as  here)  admonished  in  express 
terms  of  the  consequences  of  a  lapse  and  stimulated  to 
persevere, — they  nevertheless  yielded  to  the  seductions  of 
the  enemy  of  their  peace,  gradually  lost  every  remnant  of 
primitive  purity,  and  deserving  the  threatened  vengeance 
of  God,  were  left  to  so  utter  a  desolation,  that  for  many  an 
age  not  one  hymn  of  praise  has  been  heard  within  those 
walls  which  St  John  and  St  Paul  hallowed  by  their  presence 
and  their  prayers.  A  few  poor  relics  of  ancient  sanctity 
still  lie  scattered  among  some  of  them,  but  relics  that  only 
the  more  sadly  attest  desolation.  Kemembrances  of  former 
glory  have  excited  the  piety  of  some  of  the  modern  resi- 
dents to  attempt  to  erect  churches  and  gather  congregations, 
— to  renew  in  the  seats  of  these  ancient  communities  of 


284 


Danger  of  BaclcsUding. 


[SERM.  XIX. 


holiness  a  faint  image  of  that  fervent  and  willing  activity 
which  in  elder  times  distinguished  them;  but  such  efforts, 
few  and  desultory,  have  not  gone  near  to  remove  the  heavy 
cloud  which  divine  justice  has  cast  upon  these  once  favor- 
ed localities.  "  Their  glory  has  past  away."  The  services 
of  an  antichristian  imposture — of  Mohammedanism — have 
invaded  the  very  soil  upon  which  the  sacred  buildings 
rose,  and  the  ground  where  Christ  was  once  so  ardently 
worshipped,  the  very  materials  of  which  his  temples  were 
formed,  are  now  desecrated  to  the  gross  superstitions  of  a 
lying  and  sensual  creed  ! 

Among  all  these  Churches  thus  living  in  the  light  of 
God's  peculiar  mercies,  perhaps  none  was  so  eminently 
favored  as  the  Church  to  which  the  reproof  of  the  text 
was  addressed,  Eplicsus  is  a  distinguished  name  in  Apos- 
tolic history.  In  St  Paul's  second  missionary  voyage  we 
find  him  engaged  there,  strenuously  "reasoning  with  the 
Jews,"  upon  whom  the  efficacy  of  his  labors  aj)pears  to 
have  been  attested  by  their  earnest  requests  that  he  should 
"  tarry  with  them."  Some  time  after  (at  an  early  period  in 
his  third  voyage),  he  arrives  again  at  this  great  metropolis, 
and  tlie  whole  of  the  19th  chapter  of  the  Acts  is  taken  up 
with  the  history  of  this  visit.  You  remember  that  it  was 
on  this  occasion  that  the  great  Apostle  baptized  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  gifted  with  the  lloly  Ghost, 
those  disciples  of  John,  who  till  then  "  had  not  so  much  as 
heard  whether  there  be  an  Holy  Ghost;" — that  it  was  on 
this  occasion  that  for  three  months  he  spake  boldly  in  the 
synagogue,  and  afterwards,  when  assailed  by  enemies  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Cross,  disputed  daily  in  the  house  of  a 
private  disciple — continuing  for  two  whole  years  to  preach, 
so  as  that  all  Asia  "  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
You  remember  that  this  Ephesian  visit  was  accompanied 
by  "special  miracles"  of  the  most  striking  kind;  that  it 
was  here  and  now  that  the  evil  spirit  was  permitted  to 
overcome  the  presumptuous  sons  of  Sceva;  and  that  it  was 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  Baclcsliding. 


285 


here  tliat  God  also  manifested  the  mercies  of  His  good 
Spirit  in  converting  to  the  way  of  truth  numbers,  who 
(among  other  depravities)  devoted  to  the  miserable  impos- 
tures of  divination,  at  length  "burning  their  books  before 
all  men,"  learned  to  seek  for  truth  in  the  holier  divining 
books  of  those  prophets  who  had  foretokened  the  coming  of 
the  Redeemer.  Finally — you  remember  that  it  was  here 
that  avarice  befriended  idolatry;  and  that,  in  vindicating 
the  honor  of  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,  the  "  craft  in  danger 
of  being  set  at  nought"  was  (as  often  since)  made  the  ad- 
versary of  Christian  truth.  A  great  Church  had  however 
by  this  time  been  erected,  and  in  the  following  chapter, 
Ephesus  is  again  strikingly  introduced  to  our  notice.  I 
need  not  remind  you  of  that  pathetic  charge  which  Paul 
at  Miletus  addressed  to  the  elders  of  this  Ephesian  Church 
— how  he  tells  them  to  "take  heed  to  themselves  and  to 
all  the  flock  over  the  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made 
them  overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of  God  which  He  hath 
purchased  with  His  blood ;"  or  how  with  melancholy  pro- 
phecy he  warned  them  that  "  after  his  departing  grievous 
wolves  would  enter  in  among  them,  not  sparing  the  flock." 
Too  truly  has  the  terrible  prediction  been  realized  !  But 
a  more  glorious  page  belongs  still  to  Ephesus.  To  this 
Church  yet  in  its  primitive  bloom  was  addressed  that  epistle 
which  of  all  the  writings  of  its  author  contains  the  fullest 
and  deepest  revelation  of  the  Christian  mysteries,  an  epistle 
in  which  the  writer  seems  animated  by  a  peculfar  and  un- 
wonted energy  of  inspiration,  and  which,  it  is  obvious  to 
any  reader  of  its  congratulations  and  encouragements, 
could  scarcely  have  been  addressed  but  to  those  who  had 
already  enjoyed  the  richest  treasures  of  grace.  The  Apos- 
tle docs  not  command  them,  but  confers  with  them;  he 
places  them  on  his  own  level  in  Christian  attainments,  and 
rejoices  with  them  in  a  common  salvation.  He  does  not  so 
much  speak  to  them,  as  speak  on  behalf  of  himself  and  them. 
If  he  declares  "  u:e  have  obtained  an  inheritance,"  and 


286 


Danger  of  Backsliding. 


[SERM.  XIX. 


"  we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  His  glory  who  first  trusted," 
— he  adds,  "in  whom  ye  also  trusted;" — if,  reversing  the 
order,  he  reminds  them  "  t/c  walked  according  to  the  course 
of  this  world,"  he  takes  care  with  deep  humility  to  add 
"  among  whom  also  we  all  had  our  conversation."  I  need 
not  enlarge  upon  this  characteristic  of  the  Epistle  of  the 
Ephesians ;  which  you  can  easily  establish  for  yourselves, 
and  which  cannot  be  easily  established  by  anything  but 
personal  investigation.  You  will  find  that,  all  through 
this  noble  display  of  Gospel  truth,  the  writer  addresses  his 
correspondents  as  those  who  had  been  elevated  into  a  par- 
ticipation of  the  mysteries  he  described  ;  as  those  to  whom 
specific  moral  commands  were  less  necessary  than  exhor-- 
tations  to  the  continued  and  increased  cultivation  of  the 
Spirit  that  animates  and  vivifies  them, — in  short,  as  those 
who  might  expect,  by  perseverance  in  prayer,  that  "  being 
rooted  and  grounded  in  love"  they  "  might  be  able  to  com- 
prehend with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and 
depth,  and  height ;  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which 
passeth  knowledge!"  These  were  attainments  too  high  for 
novices !  No  beginner  in  the  school  of  the  Spirit  could 
dare  to  hope  for  a  learning  in  the  things  of  God  so  vast,  so 
comprehensive,  and  so  profound,  as  this ! 

Such,  brethren !  was  the  Church  of  Ephesus  in  its  pri- 
mitive years.  No  cloud  rests  upon  the  mirror  which  these 
earliest  records  present  of  its  primal  purity.  Our  Chris- 
tian contemplations  may  dwell  upon  it  as  a  holy  association 
of  ardent  yet  patient  children  of  God  ;  a  paradise  in  which 
Satan  might  indeed  lurk  (for  he  lurks  wherever  there  are 
human  hearts),  but  in  which,  as  yet,  he  could  not  dare  to 
ravage  or  destroy.  Though  alone  and  discountenanced  in 
the  midst  of  a  profligate  and  idolatrous  metropolis,  doubt- 
less they  were  deeply  and  truly  happy !  At  peace  with 
themselves,  and  loving,  with  the  unmeasured  affection  of 
Christians,  all  around  tlicrn, — the  terrors  of  the  stake  and 
the  lions  could  not  ruffle  the  bright  tranquillity  of  that 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  Bacl^sliding. 


287 


peace  and  love.  The  glory  of  the  inward  light  spread  on 
all  that  circled  them,  and  as  it  fell  upon  their  afflictions, 
turned  them  to  a  joy  better  than  this  world's  most  seduc- 
tive pleasures  can  bring.  Despised— stricken — oppressed — ■ 
calumniated, — they  smiled  upon  the  tormentors,  and  prais- 
ed God  in  the  midst  of  the  torment : — for  the  holy  ardors 
of  the  "first  love"  could,  to  the  triumphant  spirit,  over- 
bear the  flames  of  martyrdom.  And  surely  it  was  a  sin- 
gular testimony  to  the  omnipotence  of  the  Spirit  of  grace, 
that  in  the  very  capital  of  Eastern  idolatry — in  the  place 
where  Satan  had  set  up  the  most  superb  of  his  idol-tem- 
ples, in  order  to  blind  men  to  the  truth  that  God  "  dwelleth 
not  in  temples  made  with  hands" — even  here  arose  perhaps 
the  noblest  and  purest  of  all  the  early  Churches,  flourish- 
ing uncontaminated,  in  the  midst  of  corruption  and  vice ! 
Alas!  Churches,  like  individuals,  may  mourn  over  the 
lovely  recollections  of  cliildhood.  The  freshness  of  early 
spring  belongs  to  the  history  of  both  alike.  Each  has  its 
period  of  unforgotten  innocence.  The  fervency  that  glories 
in  opposition,  the  kindling  enthusiasm  that  consumes  be- 
fore it  every  paltry  and  unworthy  feeling — these  are  the 
characteristics  of  the  youth  of  Churches,  no  less  than  of 

their  individual  members  And  even  as  a  man  overworn 

by  the  cares  and  perplexities  of  busy  age,  often  gladly 
reverts  to  the  uncorrupted  hours  of  his  dawning  life — to 
their  happy  confidence,  their  guiltless  desires,  their  bound- 
less hope — so  may  the  advanced  age  of  Churches — so  may 
we,  brethren !  who  in  our  day  forget  our  God  and  neglect 
Ilis  word — turn  back  an  eye  of  sorrowful  remembrance  to 
those  times  yet  glowing  on  the  page  of  history,  when  our 
Church,  though  cradled  in  the  furnace  of  persecution, 
seemed,  as  it  were,  to  borrow  from  the  furnace  its  fire,  and 
like  that  flame,  rising  as  it  kindled,  to  struggle  still  up- 
wards to  heaven ! 

The  first  scene  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus 
is  closed.    It  leaves  a  solemn  and  deep  impression  of  uu- 


288 


Danger  of  Backsliding.  [sERM.  XIX. 


mingled  happiness.  Christianity  is  seen  in  action;  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  tvorlcing  Inj  love.  No  rude  dissensions 
disturb  the  beautiful  calm  of  hope  and  peace ;  heaven  is 
reflected  upon  earth ;  and  the  angels  of  God,  as  they  pass 
and  repass  on  their  missions  of  mercy,  acknowledge  that 
their  own  holy  societies  can  scarcely  surpass  the  blessed 
communion  of  regenerated  human  hearts. 

The  next  scene  opens  in  the  passage  from  which  the 
words  of  the  text  are  derived.  That  passage  is  the  last 
notice  of  happy  and  favored  Ephesus,  contained  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament.  A  mighty  censor  had 
been  among  its  congregations.  John,  who  had  resided 
for  years  as  superintendent  of  the  Asiatic  Churches,  and 
whose  affectionate  heart  had  been  deej)ly  interested  in 
their  welfare, — now  an  exile  in  a  lonely  Grecian  island, 
banished,  as  he  expresses  it,  "for  the  word  of  God  and  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ," — transmits  to  the  growing 
Church  at  Ephesus  the  admonitions  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth. 
Yes — the  man  to  whose  unsealed  eyes  the  Lord  Jesus 
Himself  was  revealed  in  His  glory  as  He  had  formerly 
been  in  His  humiliation,  the  man  who  became  the  organ  of 
prescience  to  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  till  time  shall  be 
no  more — he,  thus  honored  and  exalted  of  Heaven,  was  at 
this  hour  a  banished  exile  under  the  proscription  of  all 
earthly  authority.  Who  can  but  pause  upon  such  a  con- 
trast ?  The  mighty  of  this  world  laid  their  interdict  upon 
the  humble  Christian  teacher,  they  cast  him  out  of  their 
coasts,  and  refused  him  all  but  the  existence  which  they 
did  not  leave  his  brethren  long, — but  they  could  not  debar 
him  the  society  of  God  Himself  1  Truly  the  inspired  exile 
could  endure  their  frown  when  the  Lord  of  the  whole  uni- 
verse smiled  upon  him  ;  truly,  he  could  bear  the  absence  or 
the  discountenance  of  the  haughty  nobles  of  Asia  or  of 
Eome,  when  the  hierarchy  of  heaven  were  with  him  in  his 
wilderness ! 

Such  an  inspector  as  this  was  not  likely  to  overlook 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  BacTcsliding. 


289 


the  traces  of  corruption  or  decay  in  the  congregations  of 
Ephesas.  He  had  been  too  familiar  with  infinite  Purity 
to  lightly  brook  even  the  earliest  rudiments  of  evil.  But 
a  mightier  voice  than  his  spoke  in  the  message  to  the 
Church  of  Ephesus.  "  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in 
His  right  hand addresses  it  in  this  solemn  exhortation. 
In  its  tenor  we  can  but  too  plainly  perceive,  that  a  declen- 
sion liad  been  detected  in  the  community  once  so  humbly 
resolute  in  its  holiness.  The  Ephesian  converts  were  still 
indeed  a  noble  body.  Would  that  our  existing  Churches 
reached  the  height  of  even  their  failure  !  But  the  seeds  of 
ruin  were  sown  for  a  future  development.  These  Christians 
could  still  withstand  the  terrors  of  persecution  by  the 
might  of  prayer ;  but  the  prayers  were  less  frequent  and 
less  ardent,  and  the  world  had  stolen  in  between  them  and 
their  God.  Hear  then  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  ruler 
of  this  Church,  and  in  him,  doubtless,  to  this  Church  itself. 
"  I  know  thy  works,  and  thy  labor,  and  thy  patience,  and 
how  thou  canst  not  bear  them  which  are  evil:.. .and  hast 
borne,  and  hast  patience,  and  for  my  name's  sake  hast 
labored,  and  hast  not  fainted.  Nevertheless  I  have  some- 
what against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy  first  love.  Ee- 
member  therefore  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent, 
and  do  the  first  works;  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee 
quickly,  and  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his 
place !" 

The  remaining  history  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus  is  not 
written  in  the  Scriptures  of  God ;  it  is  to  be  collected  from 
the  uninspired  records  of  the  time.  Erom  these  we  learn 
that  St  John  himself  resided  there  till  the  close  of  his  long 
life;  and  taught  his  lessons  of  love  to  the  last.  For  many 
succeeding  years  it  existed  in  the  mixed  condition  of  good 
and  evil  which  our  modern  Churches  exemplify.  The 
great  martyr  Ignatius,  on  his  road  to  martyrdom,  addressed 
it  with  affectionate  zeal ;  and  bore  testimony  to  its  (as  yet) 
continued  holiness.  At  the  close  of  the  second  century  it 
VOL.  II. — 25 


290 


Danger  of  Baclcsliding. 


[SEIIM.  XIX. 


was  still  at  the  licad  of  Asiatic  Cliristiauity,  and,  under  it3 
venerable  bishop,  feared  not  to  question  even  the  growing 
sovereignty  of  the  Church  of  Kome.  But  it  is  needless  to 
extend  the  inquiry.  I  must  not  pause  to  analyze  its  ruin. 
A  darker  season  came  on  the  Church  of  Ephesas.  It  de- 
cayed with  the  general  decay  of  vital  godliness ;  and  it  at 
length  attracted  the  threatened  vengeance  of  its  neglected 
Master.  What  then  ? — does  history  boar  out  the  fulfilment 
of  tlie  divine  menace?  I  will  not  tell  you  to  ask  the  ques- 
tion now  among  the  ruins  of  Ephesus.  Ihny  ages  dnce 
you  might  have  asked,  whether  the  lightnings  of  divine 
wrath  had  stricken  that  ill-fated  city  and  its  Church;  with 
the  Book  of  the  Revelation  in  your  right  hand,  you  might 
have  entered  the  site  of  its  streets  and  interrogated  the  city 
which  was  the  light  and  glory  of  Asia,  whether  the  ven- 
geance of  God  is  indeed  inevitable  in  its  visitation  of 
sinners; — and  the  melancholy  echoes  from  fragments  of 
the  desecrated  sanctuaries  and  fallen  temples  of  a  lost 
Chistianity  alone  would  have  answered  your  question  with 
a  terrible  affirmative ! 

Now,  brethren !  with  such  an  example  as  this  before 
you, — with  such  an  example  written  in  the  Scriptures  of 
God  and  in  those  pages  of  authentic  history  which  are,  as 
it  were,  the  Scriptures  of  Ilis  general  Providence,  I  ask 
you — is  it  not  wise  to  pause  upon  the  awful  tale,  and 
question  ourselves,  how  far  it  is  applicable  to  our  own 
condition,  and  what  lessons  as  to  the  dispensations  of 
Providence  it  presses  upon  our  thoughts?  I  am  not 
about  to  attempt  extracting  remote  and  novel  conclusions 
from  the  facts  of  this  striking  case;  let  me  but  assist  your 
minds  to  travel  in  the  natural  course  of  simple  and  un- 
labored meditation. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  does  it  not  forcibly  remind  you, 
that  the  Providence  of  God  oversees  with  special  care  the 
fortunes  of  Churches  no  less  than  those  of  individuals? 
that  Christians  arc  regarded  by  their  Master  in  their 


SERM.  XIX.] 


Danger  of  Backsliding. 


291 


collective  capacity;  that  lie  delights  not  more  in  the 
growth  of  the  separate  plant  than  in  the  growth  of  the 
garden  and  the  grove.  Brethren,  I  cannot  impress  this 
point  too  forcibly  upon  your  recollections.  Churches, 
visible  and  regulated  Churches,  even  more  than  scattered 
instances  of  individual  piety,  are  the  great  objects  of 
Divine  favor,  if  we  may  trust  the  records  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  spirit  so  prevalent  in  our  day,  of  regard- 
ing individuals  wholly  apart  from  their  place  in  a  Church 
or  communion  of  Christians^  really  finds  no  support  what- 
ever from  the  documents  of  our  faith.  I  need  not  tell  you 
in  how  many  cases  the  Apostles  address  themselves  to  the 
communities  and  not  to  the  single  members;  and  how  by 
every  variety  of  argument  and  illustration  they  impress 
the  necessity  of  those  subordinations  and  dependencies 
which  constitute  the  distinctive  feature  of  Churches.  No- 
where are  individuals  addressed  in  a  way  that  would 
separate  them  from  some  organized  association  of  believers. 
None  of  that  abstracted  and  independent  piety  which 
connects  itself  with  no  visible  system  of  ecclesiastical 
governance,  none  of  that  unregulated  religionism  which 
holds  itself  at  liberty  to  join  with  any  party  of  worshippers 
just  as  caprice  or  convenience  may  dictate,  is  recognized  in 
the  ordinances  either  of  Christ  Himself  or  of  His  com- 
missioners, the  Apostles.  In  the  passage  before  us  and  its 
context,  we  have  the  Churches  brought  under  view  wholly 
irrespective  of  particular  individuals,  they  are  themselves 
individualized  as  the  direct  objects  of  Divine  superin- 
tendence; and  all  the  attributes  of  distinct  personal  exist- 
ence are  conferred  upon  these  aggregates  of  Christian  men. 
So  certain  is  the  fact,  that,  as  from  the  beginning  Clirist 
knew  icho  were  to  be  "-His  own"  in  a  special  sense — whom 
"  the  Fatlier  had  given  to  Him;" — so,  from  the  beginning 
He  also  purposed  and  ordained  the  existence  of  a  visible 
republic  of  His  professing  people.  The  eternal  God  con- 
secrates the  principle  of  order  in  making  His  own  earthly 


292 


Danger  of  Backsliding. 


[SERM.  XIX. 


kingdom  a  system  of  order.  There  is,  as  I  believe,  no 
more  doubt  that  Christ  meant  that  a  temple  should  rise  on 
earth,  external  in  its  construction  and  visible  to  all  man- 
kind, and  enlarging  perpetually  with  new  fronts  and  new 
chambers, — than  that  He  also,  from  the  first,  fixed  the 
omniscient  eye  of  His  love  and  approval  upon  those  special 
portions  of  the  structure  which  were  durable  enough  to 
last  for  all  eternity,  those  separate  pillars  which  were 
afterwards  to  be  made  "  pillars  in  the  temple  of  his  God." 
The  visible  Church  of  Christ,  the  Church  Catholic — in- 
cluding all  who  in  united  worship  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord  and  even  in  frailty  attempt  to  follow  His  laws — 
is  the  framework  and  mould  for  that  perfect  Church  of  the 
latter  day,  which  is  to  be  formed  of  devoted  hearts  alone. 
In  the  days  of  primitive  purity  and  persecution,  the  visible 
Church,  and  the  "  invisible  Churcli"  coincided  in  extent, — 
they  were  pressed  into  one  by  the  weight  of  persecution ; — 
we  know  too  well  that  they  have  since  occupied  a  widely 
different  compass;  but  assuredly  we  are  not  therefore 
justified  in  casting  away  the  exterior  frame  of  the  visible 
kingdom  of  Christ.  Brethren,  it  exists  with  a  view  to  the 
future/ — to  that  time  when  every  outward  believer  shall 
be  a  believer  in  heart,  and  when  once  more,  as  at  first,  (and 
perhaps  through  the  same  instrumentality  of  persecution) 
tbe  visible  Churcli  and  the  Body  of  real  believers  shall 
coincide  to  separate  no  more.  But  even  then,  that  Churcli 
of  perfect  holiness  shall  be  not  the  supplantation  of  the 
present,  but  its  continuance.  It  will  be  that  same  body  in 
perfect  health  and  with  every  particle  renewed  to  a  firmer 
substance,  which  is  now  existing  in  weakness  and  difficulty; 
but  the  Body  will,  though  changed  in  every  particle,  still 
preserve  its  organic  identity.  There  will  be  the  same  form 
and  structure  of  the  temple,  but  its  pillars  will  then  be 
based  upon  every  continent  of  the  earth,  and  its  dome  will 
reach  to  heaven !  I  cannot,  before  leaving  this  part  of  the 
subject,  avoid  remarking  how  complete  a  contradiction 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  Backsliding. 


293 


this  whole  context  presents  to  the  mistakeu  enthusiasm  of 
some  of  the  honest  but  most  deceived  advocates  of  what  is 
called  "  close  communion  in  the  Church"  in  our  own  day. 
Those  who  would  eject  from  their  meetings  every  one  of 
whose  personal  character  they  were  not  previously  satisfied, 
and  who  refuse  to  meet  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  such 
communicants  as  our  Church  gladly  welcomes  there — 
seem,  most  strangely  to  forget  the  spirit  of  our  Lord's 
injunctions  through  St  John.  The  whole  tenor  of  these 
messages  is  to  preach  not  expulsion  but  repentence.  If 
Ephesus  have  failed,  it  is  told — not  to  cast  out  the  feeble, 
but  universally,  the  evil-doers  and  all — to  ^^repentP  If 
Thyatira  have  been  guilty  of  the  grossest  crime,  it  is  said 
to  the  criminals,  not  at  all  that  they  should  abandon  their 
place  in  the  worship  and  offices  of  the  Church,  but  that 
they  should  "repent  of  their  deeds."  Sardis,  again,  is 
almost  wholly  lost;  it  is  said  to  be  "cfcaJ;"  righteous  only 
in  "  a  few  names:" — yet  are  these  few  commanded  to  con- 
gregrate  in  solitude  and  exclude  the  rest  ?  No  such  thing. 
Tlie  Church  at  Sardis  is  still  considered  as  composed  of 
the  entire  mass  of  good  and  evil,  and  warned  to  "  remem- 
ber"— to  "hold  fust" — to  "repent."  It  is  obvious  in  this 
case  that  if  Christ  considered  all  the  Church  annihilated 
except  the  "few  names  that  had  not  defiled  their  gar- 
ments," there  could  be  no  room  for  telling  the  Church  to 
repent  lest  eventually  ruin  should  fall  upon  it.  And  so 
of  all  the  rest.  They  are  all  evidently  considered  as 
mingled  masses,  as  not  the  less  real  Churches  on  that 
account, — but  on  the  contrary  as  passing  through  a  course 
of  discipline  which  supposes  a  variety  of  stages  of  good 
and  evil,  without  once  losing  during  the  whole  trial  either 
the  character  of  a  Church  or  the  right  to  each  of  the  mem- 
bers of  membership  and  communion. 

On  the  whole,  I  would  recall  to  you,  my  brethren,  that 
the  portion  of  Scripture  before  us,  implies  and  enforces  the 
great  principle  of  Church  unity  in  evincing  that  God  directly 

25* 


294 


Danger  of  Backsliding. 


[SEBM.  XIX. 


oversees  the  destinies  of  Churches,  that  He  addresses  them 
as  individual  beings,  and  that  while  (as  iu  the  case  of  Sardis 
just  quoted,)  Tie  selects  from  among  them  to  "  walk  with 
Him  in  white"  the  "names  that  have  not  defiled  their  gar- 
ments," lie  yet  regards  them  also  in  the  mass,  and  as  a  mass 
or  aggregate,  exhorts,  or  threatens,  or  punishes,  or  rewards 
them. 

But,  dear  brethren!  this  passage  of  the  Word  of  Truth 
suggests  reflections  still  more  touching  than  any  general 
exhibition  of  the  Divine  will  as  to  the  formation  or  govern- 
ment of  Churches.  It  reminds  us  that  these  Churches, 
however  beautified  by  early  piety,  may  by  degrees  sink 
from  the  glories  of  their  first  estate,  and  deserve  and  expe- 
rience the  vengeance  of  God.  Brethren  !  I  cannot  address 
you  as  a  Church,  but  I  can  address  you  as  the  members  of 
a  Church.  AVould  to  heaven  that  I  could  adequately  press 
upon  you  the  duty  that  in  such  a  position  devolves  upon 
every  one  of  you !  "Will  you  suffer  that  Church  into 
which  you  have  been  baptized,  to  come  under  these  terrible 
condemnations  of  the  Invisible  Ruler  of  all  Churches  ?  In- 
asmuch as  each  of  you  neglects  the  worship,  or  despises 
the  ordinances,  of  God,  so  far  does  he  aid  the  fall  of  the 
Christian  communion  to  which  he  belongs,  and  add  to  his 
own  loss  the  crime  of  injuring  the  holy  influences  of  the 
entire  Church  of  Christ.  We  cannot  stand  alone  in  irre- 
ligion.  Man  extends  the  image  of  his  vice  far  beyond  the 
sphere  of  his  personal  presence.  The  example  of  crime 
multiplies  itself;  and  the  folly  of  a  careless  hour  may  pro- 
duce in  endless  succession  (and,  if  you  weigh  the  point, 
does  produce)  a  perpetual  generation  of  increasing  sin  that 
gathers  on  from  age  to  age,  till  a  single  being  becomes 
literally  the  ancestor  of  the  guilt  and  punishment  of  an  in- 
finite multitude  and  an  eternal  duration!  Oh!  brethren, 
do  I  overcharge  the  matter  when  I  press  upon  you  the 
enormous  extent  of  your  responsibility  towards  the  Chris- 
tians who  join  with  you  iu  worship  and  praise?  Re- 


SERM.  XIX.]  Danger  of  BaclcsUding. 


295 


member  that  if  example  be  powerful  for  evil,  it  is  also 
powerful  for  good ;  and  tliat  tbe  same  principle  which  may 
make  each  of  you  the  parent  of  an  infinite  succession  of 
guilt,  may  also  make  you  the  source  of  never-ending  bless- 
ings !  I  know  not  a  consideration  which  ought  more  deeply 
to  stir  the  heart  of  every  Christian  brother  than  this  exten- 
sion of  his  capacities  of  beneficence  to  people  and  ages  that 
he  has  never  beheld  or  even  imagined  in  the  warmest 
dreams  of  hope,  and  the  glorious  reflection  that  all  this 
long  posterity  of  virtues,  whose  existence  was  primarily 
traceable  to  his  example,  will  one  day,  doubtless,  be  set 
before  him,  as  the  crown  and  reward  of  his  labors !  It  is 
most  true  and  consoling,  to  remember  that  great  examples 
of  our  faith  are  sown  in  the  various  ages  of  earthly  time, 
to  germinate  from  century  to  century  unto  a  thousandfold 
produce,  and  extend  branches  into  eternity  itself!  Every 
action  that  we  perform  in  presence  of  others,  every  word 
that  we  speak,  is  in  some  measure  creating  our  own  like- 
ness around  us.  Shall  it  be  for  good  or  evil  ?  The  hap- 
piness or  sorrow  of  an  undying  soul  will  one  day  answer 
the  question  to  every  one  of  us ! 

Surely,  brethren  !  you  can  plainly  see  why  it  is  that  in 
the  present  case  I  feel  it  so  pre-eminently  necessary  to  re- 
mind you  of  your  personal  injluences.  You  are  members  of 
a  Church  rich  in  great  examples,  and  you  are  called  upon 
in  your  turn  to  requite  it  the  service  it  has  done  you  in 
affording  them.  In  being  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, you  are  introduced  to  the  noblest  association  that  man, 
under  God's  guidance,  ever  constructed.  If  you  deem  that 
at  this  age,  the  warmth  of  its  "  first  love,"  like  that  of 
Ephesus,  is  indeed  abated, — what  is  your  duty  ?  To  re- 
kindle the  flame  in  you  own  hearts,  and  by  the  fervor  of 
your  example  and  your  teaching  to  spread  and  support  it. 
Believe  the  experience  of  all  ages,  that  the  truest  way  to 
aid  the  cause  of  religion  is — to  be  religious! 

Brethren !  were  I  to  ask  you  to  point  out  the  probable 


296 


Danger  of  Baclcsliding. 


[SERM.  XIX. 


causes  of  the  declension  of  the  Church  whose  history  has 
engaged  us  this  day,  what  could  you  name  but  the  very 
characteristics  which  are  prevalent  among  ourselves?  Put- 
ting aside  all  merely  external  influences, — what  trait  of 
guilt  could  be  cited  which  our  own  sad  experience  cannot 
])arallel?  Alas!  if  the  mercy  of  the  Most  High  had  not 
been  eminently  exerted  to  preserve  among  us  the  light  of 
early  truth,  would  not  our  negligence  have  ere  now  merited 
its  extinction  ?  If  wandering  and  unfrequent  prayers,  if 
frigid  and  heartless  services,  if  a  surrender  to  casual  conve- 
niences of  man's  loyalty  to  God — if  the-'se  were  the  ruin  of 
Ephesus,  its  ruin  may  yet  not  be  alone  in  the  world !  Our 
reformed  Church's  '■'■first  Zove"  carried  it  unscathed  through 
the  fires  of  an  almost  unexampled  persecution  (for  Chris- 
tians have  improved  in  the  science  of  persecution  upon  their 
heathen  masters !) ;  could  we  now  endure  the  terrors  of 
another  such  trial ?  "  Another  such  trial,"  did  I  say?  Can 
we  endure  for  the  sake  of  Him  who  bled  for  our  salvation, 
to  surrender  even  the  least  of  the  superfluities  of  life? 
Can  we  sacrifice  even  trifles  for  Ilim  who  sacrificed  Uim- 
self  for  us?  ..  .Brethren,  I  say,  beware  lest  the  Church 
whose  cause  you  desert,  be  left  to  perish  in  the  desertion  I 
In  the  admonitory  instance  before  us  this  day,  you  saw  how 
God  avenges  his  justice  upon  Churches.  If  ours — in  its 
forms  the  purest  existing  depository  of  scriptural  truth — 
be  still  to  flourish — still  destined  to  accompany  and  illu- 
mine the  future  history  of  our  country, — secure  to  your- 
selves the  glory  of  being  among  those  for  whose  sake  the 
Lord  Jesus  loves  to  strengthen  and  support  it; — if  (which 
heaven  avert !)  it  be  doomed  to  flxll  (in  dread  requital  for 
the  sins  of  the  people  it  vainly  strives  to  govern)  be  your 
hands  guiltless  of  its  ruin  / 


SERMON  XX. 


THE  WORD  OF  GOD. 
(Preached  at  St  Stephen's,  Mount  Street,  June  13,  1837.) 
The  people  pressed  upon  Him  to  hear  the  word  of  God. — Luke  t.  1. 

I  SUPPOSE,  my  brethren,  there  are  few  present  who  cannot 
even,  as  I  have  read  them,  make  the  personal  and  practical 
application  of  these  words.  When  the  members  of  the 
clause  are  separately  regarded,  that  is,  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  "j^eop^e"  in  question  were  a  portion  of  that  ancient 
people  of  God,  which  had  been  so  often  illustrated  by  His 
favors,  but  which,  at  the  period  here  noted,  had,  by  a  miser- 
able progress  in  degeneracy,  become  even  a  more  hard  and 
heartless  generation  than  ever  their  fathers  had  been ; — 
that  this  people,  thus  mighty  in  recollections,  thus  debased 
in  actual  habits,  are  said  to  have  "pressed^''  on  the  great 
Teacher,  to  hear  His  exhortation, — the  Author  of  the  Scrip- 
tural promises  thus  becoming  their  Interpreter  ; — and  that 
that  which  they  heard  was  the  "  Word  of  God;" — it  re- 
quires but  little  exercise  in  the  reflective  reading  of  revealed 
truth,  to  call  to  mind  the  corresponding  circumstances  of 
OUR  PRESENT  STATE.  The  sclf-love  which  makes  us  con- 
tinually apply  to  ourselves  what  we  read  of  the  advantages 
or  the  misfortunes  of  otliers,  should  not  be  permitted  to 
slumber  where  it  is  most  required.  And  it  is  no  unwar- 
rantable demand  on  your  powers  of  meditation,  to  ask  you 


298 


The  Word  of  God. 


[SERM.  XX. 


to  remember, — what  is  the  character  (or  the  diversities  of 
character)  of  the  "^jeo/^Ze"  who  are  the  listeners  of  our  day ; 
with  what  degree  of  energy  they  "j^ress"  to  listen :  and 
what,  or  how  great,  ought  to  be  the  practical  effect  upon 
our  minds,  of  that  most  providential  preservation  of  the 
Sacred  Eecords,  which  allows  us  at  this  hour,  after  the 
changes  and  chances  of  so  many  centuries,  to  read  and  hear 
in  substance  the  same  "  Word  of  God,"  which  these  men  of 
Galilee  pressed  to  hear. 

Such  inquiries  as  these,  brethren,  are  pre-eminently  im- 
portant in  the  days  upon  which  wc  are  cast ;  days  in  which 
by  an  overweening  and  injudicious  zeal  for  the  authority  of 
the  visible  Church  of  Christ,  attempts  so  formidable  and  so 
seductive  have  been  made  to  depreciate  the  supremacy  of 
the  Word  of  God  as  the  sole  external  organ  of  certainty  in 
divine  knowledge :  I  say  that  it  is  necessary  that  it  should 
be  fully  perceived,  that  (whatever  may  be  our  visionary 
speculations  as  to  what  God  ought  to  have  done)  He  has  not 
seen  fit  to  present  to  man  any  assured  guidance  beyond  the 
recorded  inspirations  of  His  Evangelists  and  Apostles ;  and 
that  we  should  be  evermore  reminded  that  the  presumptuous 
body  which  undertook  to  assume  the  place  of  that  supreme 
authority,  proved  by  its  wretched  self-contradictions  and  its 
still  more  wretched  moral  failures  (springing  directly  from 
its  position),  that  it  had  assumed  a  height  never  meant  for 
man,  that  humanity  is  not  formed  to  breathe  in  such  an 
atmosphere  of  exalted  power,  and  that  confusion  and  per- 
plexity are  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  those  who  dare  to 
challenge  His  attribute  of  omniscience.  Such  are  the  fun- 
damental convictions,  with  regard  to  the  great  theoretical 
question  of  the  "  Word  of  God."  And  whatever  may  be 
the  progress  of  opposing  views,  we  are  not  without  some 
striking  practical  developments  of  our  convictions.  Wher- 
ever we  would  spread  our  faith,  we  come  armed  with  the 
sole  authority  it  recognizes.  And  surely  this  is  an  sera. 
diffusive  of  Christianity.  The  missionary  societies  of  Britain 


SERM.  XX.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


299 


have  reached  its  antipodes.  Every  month,  ships  freighted 
with  the  materials  of  illumination  and  happiness  leave  our 
ports.  The  sun  which  never  sets  upon  the  territories  of 
Britain  is  but  a  type  of  that  sun  of  brighter  beam,  which 
she  seems  determined  shall  be  as  extended  in  its  radiancy. 
And  what  is  the  watchword  of  all  these  legions  of  Gospel 
colonizers  ?  The  Bible  and  it  alone  !  "  We  ask  no  more," 
they  cry,  "than  the  records  of  John  and  Paul,  and  the  rest 
of  their  band,  to  follow  up  their  work,  and  plant  Churches, 
as  they  did,  through  every  part  of  the  unbaptized  world." 
...And  yet,  brethren,  with  all  this  brilliant  activity, — with 
all  this  confident  assertion  of  our  sole  dependence  on  the 
Bible, — are  we  quite  sure  of  our  own  condition  with  regard 
to  the  use  of  this  revelation  ?  While  we  preach  to  others, 
are  we  quite  safe  from  being  ourselves  castaways?  Are 
our  sole  energies  to  be  emissive  and  external ;  and  are  we, 
after  all,  destined  to  be  like  that  sun  of  which  I  just  spoke, 
which  is  the  source  of  light  and  heat  to  the  whole  world 
around,  but  is  said  to  be  itself  internally  a  dark,  and  dull, 
and  frigid  mass  ?  What  matters  it  that  the  Word  of  God 
should  be  elucidated  with  comments,  and  flattered  with 
praises,  and  multiplied  among  the  heathen,  if  it  be  not  laid 
to  heart  by  those  who  explain,  and  praise,  and  disseminate 
it? — what  matters  it  (except  to  increase  his  condemnation) 
if  he  who  (in  the  Apostle's  metaphor)  beholds  "  his  natural 
face"  in  this  perfect  mirror  of  the  human  heart,  "  beholdeth 
himself,  and  goeth  his  way,  and  straightway  forgettcth  what 
manner  of  man  he  was?" 

We  are  not,  then,  brethren — shrouding  ourselves  in  con- 
victions of  personal  or  national  excellency — (for  a  man's 
national  pride  is  often  only  his  diffused  selfishness) — to 
blame  the  preacher  who,  going  back  to  the  very  elements 
of  duty,  would  enforce  on  you  the  need  of  individually 
applying  to  the  study  of  the  truth.  Alas !  it  is  the  melan- 
choly identity  of  human  nature  in  every  age  that  has  made 
the  business  of  your  preachers,  from  whatever  quarter  this 


300 


TIlc  Word  of  God. 


[SERM.  XX. 


comes, — still  unchangeable.  AV"ould  to  God,  that  the  time 
were  come,  when  our  sermons  of  appeal,  and  censure,  and 
exhortation,  shall  be  all  but  unintelligible!  when  the  path 
of  perfection  shall  be  so  universally  trodden,  that  men  will 
not  be  able  even  to  understand  the  perversity  that  could 
seek  any  other!  In  this  present  mingled  state,  however, 
when  our  forgetfulncss  makes  a  constant  appeal  to  first 
principles  needful,  we  have  but  to  adore  the  merciful  provi- 
dence of  God  which  has  made  the  most  necessary  truths 
always  the  simplest  to  learn  ! 

Regard,  then,  as  the  text  naturally  directs  you, — the 
"  Word  of  God'''  that  is  now.  preached, — the  existing  urgencTj 
to  hear  it, — and  the  '■'■people^''  who  are  its  favored  (and  too 
often  its  forgetful)  hearers . .  .Consider  the  Word  of  God, — 
its  origin,  progress,  and  arrival  among  us. 

By  the  wisdom  of  a  God  who  works  the  interests  of  the 
universe  on  a  scale  of  policy  proportionately  vast,  we  are 
placed  here,  brethren,  in  a  position  which  it  would  be  mad- 
ness to  deny,  is  a  very  dark  and  mysterious  one.  He  can 
have  indeed  very  little  knowledge  of  himself  who  can 
regard  himself  without  wonder  and  curiosity.  Around  us 
is  mystery,  and  within  us  is  mystery;  and  there  really  is 
not  a  single  branch  of  knowledge  of  which  the  most  accom- 
plished thinker  may  not  say,  as  Paul  said  of  the  subject  of 
his  teaching,  that  it  is  the  "wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery." 
So  limited  are  our  faculties,  that  we  cannot  conclude  the 
ultimate  reason  of  any  one  thing  we  see ;  and  our  highest 
exercise  of  philosophy  goes  not  beyond  superficial  analo- 
gies, and  resemblances,  and  consequences ;  but,  to  the  full 
reason  of  nothing.  The  unbeliever  may  chafe  at  the  myste- 
ries of  faith ;  I  beseech  him  but  to  remember  the  mysteries 
of  reason ...  In  the  midst  of  all  this  uncertainty  and  limita- 
tion, and  while  man,  who  could  be  content  to  be  ignorant 
of  all  things  else,  is  miserable  not  to  know  himself,  his 
nature,  or  his  destinies, — a  slender  thread  of  light  pierces 
our  obscurity.    At  various  periods, — at  one  period  espe- 


SERM.  XS.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


301 


cially, — of  the  history  of  our  world,  that  which  reason 
might  have  conjectured  but  could  never  confidently  calcu- 
late, took  place, — and  a  communication,  amazing  in  all  its 
particulars,  was  effected  between  us  and  the  world  above  or 
beyond  us.  By  what  causes  these  communications  were 
regulated,  why  till  then  delayed,  or  why  then  given,  no 
human  mind  is  competent  to  determine:  suffice  it  to  say, — 
we  are  made  to  believe  testimony,  and  we  know  by  un- 
answerable testimony,  that  the  communications  took  place, 
— that  the  shroud  was  for  a  moment  withdrawn,  that  the 
cloud  was  rent,  and  the  secrets  of  eternity  lightened  upon 
our  eyes.  When  the  great  Consummator  of  these  commu- 
nications,— the  One  to  whom  it  appears  they  had  all  been 
subservient, — passed  awa}^,  the  cloud  again  closed,  and  since 
that  day  we  have  been  left  without  further  guidance  at  once 
immediate  and  visible.  But  though  this  be  so, — though 
our  immediate  guidance  is  not  a  visible  one,  and  our  visible 
guide  is  not  an  immediate  one, — yet  the  promise  tlieu  given 
has  not  been  broken;  and  the  God  of  miracle  fulfils  His 
engagement  as  the  God  of  providence.  Means  were  em- 
ployed,— means  both  natural  and  supernatural, — to  cherish 
and  preserve  upon  earth  in  the  chosen  vessels  of  grace  the 
blessed  light  thus  mysteriously  bestowed.  The  history  of 
these  means  is  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Among  these  means,  if  not  the  most  important  and  re- 
markable (for  to  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit  of  God  must  ever 
belong  the  highest  title),  at  least  the  most  easily  traceable 
in  its  history  and  fortunes,  is  that  which,  in  obedience  to 
its  own  authority,  we  term  the  "Word  of  God," — that 
revelation  of  the  Divine  will  preached  by  our  Lord  to  the 
Jews,  and  to  us,  through  the  exceeding  riches  of  Divine 
mercy,  ever  since  preserved.  In  preserving  this,  however, 
there  have  been  no  miraculous  interpositions,  no  "wonders 
in  heaven  above,  and  signs  in  the  earth  beneath,  "little 
which  we  cannot  trace  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature  and 
of  human  motives.  But  the  object  (even  ice  can  see)  was 
VOL.  11. — 26 


302 


The  Word  of  God. 


[SERM.  XX. 


too  mighty  a  one,  not  to  make  it  a  prominent  consideration 
in  tlie  Divine  counsels.  Provideuce  has  been  invisibly 
regulating  all,  with  a  governing  power,  only  the  more 
wondrous  in  its  perfect  secrecy.  The  machine  of  the  uni- 
verse is  so  known  to  its  Creator,  that  lie  does  not  require 
to  interfere  witli  the  mechanism  for  Ilis  own  purposes;  He 
only  interferes  when  interference  is  requisite  in  order  to 
summon  our  attention.  Through  this  Divine  control, 
which,  inscrutably  operative,  supports  the  Church  as  it 
supports  all  things, — nay,  supports  all  things  in  subservi- 
ency to  the  Church, — (for  as  the  dead  unorganized  world  is 
maintained  with  a  view  to  the  vegetable  world,  and  the 
vegetable  with  a  view  to  the  animal  world,  and  the  animal 
with  a  view  to  the  intellectual  world,  and  the  intellectual 
with  a  view  to  the  moral,  so  the  moral  world  itself  exists 
with  a  view  to  that  spiritual  state,  between  which  and  the 
Spirit  that  gives  it,  even  angels  are  not  worthy  to  be  the 
interval !) — I  say,  then,  through  this  Divine  control,  that  book 
which  is  the  book  of  our  hope,  and  faith,  and  consolation, 
has  been  preserved  to  our  age  and  country.  How  strange, 
how  providential  has  been  its  history  !  and  how  deep  ought 
to  be  our  attachment  to  a  book  so  mercifully  made  our  in- 
heritance! From  the  Churches  of  the  primitive  times  it 
passed  (as  ecclesiastical  tyranny  grew  strong  and  would  not 
brook  a  collateral  authority)  to  the  seclusion  of  monas- 
teries, for  many  a  long  and  barren  century ;  but  God  was 
with  it  through  the  darkness,  and  He  brought  it  forth  in 
His  own  good  time: — it  was  like  those  seeds  of  which 
naturalists  tell  us, — that  lie  for  ages  dormant  and  unfruitful 
in  cells  beneath  the  earth,  but  whose  vitality  lias  never  been 
lost,  and  which,  when  brought  upon  the  surface,  shoot  up 
with  vigor  into  all  the  beauty  of  luxuriant  vegetation. 
Such  has  been  the  story  of  the  written  Word  of  God: — 
and  if  we  would  but  remember  what  that  volume  contains, 
— if  we  would  but  lay  it  to  our  inmost  meditation,  that 
that  book  holds  within  its  leaves  the  only  authentic  record 


SERM.  XX.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


303 


that,  from  one  end  of  tlie  eartli  to  tlie  other,  exists,  of  the 
will  and  purpose  of  the  Being  with  whose  will  and  pur- 
pose we  are  to  be  concerned  for  all  eternity, — I  do  not  say- 
that  we  would  adore  or  consecrate  the  volume, — but  I  do 
say,  that  not  a  sabbath, — not  a  day^ — would  pass  from  us 
without  bearing  its  burthen  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  to 
that  God,  who,  while  myriads  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death, 
has,  in  His  special  favor,  given  to  us  that  commandment 
which  is  "  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes."  "  The  entrance 
of  Thy  words,"  cries  David  in  a  holy  ecstasy,  "giveth 
light;  it  giveth  understanding  to  the  simple.  I  opened 
my  mouth  and  panted  :  for  I  longed  for  Thy  command- 
ments." (Psalm  cxix.  103,131.)  O  Christians!  shall  we 
who  live  after  the  Advent  of  the  Redeemer,  and  beneath 
the  full  effluence  of  the  Spirit,  the  Comforter,  be  outdone 
in  fervent  desires  by  him,  who,  however  blest,  could  only 
in  prophecy  look  for  the  future  and  distant  appearing  of 
his  Saviour  ? 

But  men  have  said — you  are  fortunate  if  you  have  not 
in  this  day,  and  among  professing  Protestants,  heard  men 
say, — nay,  brethren,  we  are  fortunate  if  the  infidelity  of 
ovr  men  hearts  have  not  often  prompted  us  to  urge  some 
objection  of  the  kind — that  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that 
in  this  vjoy,  through  the  medium  of  a  volume  formed  like 
every  other  volume,  through  written  characters  and  ordi- 
nary study,  we  should  have  to  learn  the  eternal  truth  of 
heaven:  that  it  is  hard  to  believe,  that  matters  which  con- 
cern the  interests  of  an  eternal  existence  should  be  acquir- 
ed in  the  same  way,  and  suspended  upon  the  same  outward 
chances,  as  any  common  detail  of  temporary  knowledge. 
These  things  are  wonderful  to  those  who  forget  that  all 
things  are  wonderful: — above  all,  who  forget  that  the 
matter  of  their  objection  is  the  greatest  glory  of  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  inasmuch  as  Ilis  highest  providence  is  evinced 
not  in  the  sudden  emergencies  of  miracle,  but  in  goveruirig 
the  whole  tendency  of  human  affairs  so  as  by  means  of 


The  Word  of  God. 


[SERM.  XX. 


every  one  of  them  (and,  as  it  were,  in  spite  of  every  one  of 
them)  to  bring  about  His  sovereign  intent.  How  do  we 
answer  these  objections?  We  answer  them  by  appealing 
to  fads.  If  the  fact  be,  that  the  truth  has  actually  been 
preserved  in  all  its  integrity  in  this  way,  and  been  made 
beneficial  to  thousands,  who  will  be  extravagant  enough  to 
impugn  the  mode  of  communication  because  it  is  not  a 
visibly  miraculous  one?,.. But  it  will  be  urged,  as  I  have 
more  than  once  heard  it  urged.  If  the  truths  of  our  salva- 
tion were  taught  us,  not  thus  through  a  book  and  through 
its  human  preachers,  but  through  some  direct  interposition 
of  Heaven,  man  would  be  roused  to  exertion,  God  would 
be  honored,  and  His  standard  would  be  followed  by  many 
more  than  these  thousands.  Perhaps  so !  but  who  taught 
the  objector  that  it  was  God's  secret  purpose  that  there 
should  be  more  ?  The  same  line  of  argument  would  go  to 
object  to  the  course  of  Providence  because  all  are  not 
believers, — it  would  object  to  everything  which  could 
endanger  the  chances  of  happiness  to  every  man  ;  that  is, 
it  would  end  in  objecting  to  a  system  of  probation  of  any 
kind,  on  which  all  religion  proceeds, — and  thus  would 
modestly  terminate  in  objecting  to  religion  its  verrj  ex- 
istence! Is  it  necessary  to  answer  such  wild  and  guilty 
extravagance  ?  Far  better  and  more  profitable  is  it,  to 
observe  by  what  external  machinery  our  heavenly  Ruler 
preserved  His  truth  in  preserving  the  "  volume  of  the 
Book,"  through  all  ages  of  its  history ;  so  that  amid  all 
the  tempests  of  a  thousand  revolutions  this  ark  of  our 
salvation  rode  ever  on  the  surface  of  the  waters.  The 
diffusion  of  His  ov/n  truth  was  not  forgotten  by  the  great 
Dispenser  of  all,  when  He  taught  their  beautiful  art  to  the 
first  inventors  of  printing.  For  what  is  every  branch  of 
discovery  but  the  teaclumj  of  God?  Is  it  not  He  who 
instructs  the  astronomer  to  develop  His  disposing  wisdom 
in  tracing  the  courses  of  the  stars  ?  Is  it  not  He  who  sits 
by  the  chymist  when  ho  detects  the  exrj^uisite  organization 


SERM.  XX.] 


The  ^Yord  of  God. 


805 


of  the  smallest  masses?  Is  it  not  the  same  God  who  guides 
the  intellect  of  the  physiologist  to  find  in  his  own  frame 
those  traces  of  wonderful  design  which  prove  the  Deity 
that  formed  it?  Every  mind  that  discovers  is  but  a  pupil 
of  the  Infinite  Mind  I  And  that  views  of  the  future  spread 
of  His  kingdom  were  before  the  Deity  when  He  permitted 
us  to  possess  that  invaluable  art  which  multiplies  our 
thoughts — and  His  thoughts — through  every  clime,  it  is 
surely  no  presumption  to  infer.... But,  brethren,  a  weightier 
personal  reflection  belongs  to  the  subject.  The  truth  of 
God  is  deposited  in  a  Booh;  and  that  Book  is  deposited  in 
every  form  among  us.  Benevolence,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, has  spread  the  Bible  of  God  amidst  our  people, — oh ! 
may  that  benevolence,  generous  to  all  others,  be  not  found 
cruel  to  itself  alone !  May  those  who  spurn  as  an  abomi- 
nation the  thought  of  denying  the  Bible  to  the  poor, 
beware  how  they  deny  it  to  themselves!  Whatever  be  the 
ultimate  purpose  of  God  as  respects  the  heathen,  one 
thing  is  certain, — every  man  to  whom  the  providence  of 
God  has  sent  the  Scriptures  or  its  preachers,  is,  in  that 
very  act,  offered  salvation,  and  amenable,  if  he  reject  it,  to 
all  the  guilt  of  deliherale  rejection.  It  is  terrible  to  think 
what  is  the  responsibility  of  entering  a  Christian  Church  ! 
By  that  single  act  the  complexion  of  an  eternity  is  altered. 
The  savage  of  the  Pacific  may  plead  ignorance  before  the 
bar  of  God,  and  a  God  of  mercy  mtiy  perhaps  not  consider 
the  plea  wholhj  inadmissible.  But  from  him  who  has  ever 
heard  the  offer  of  the  Gospel,  all  excuse  is  from  that  hour 
cut  off'.  I  know  not,  if  at  this  moment  such  a  being  may 
be  in  this  assembly,  /cannot  read  your  hearts.  Perhaps, 
even  as  I  speak,  there  may  be  one — two — three — whose 
hearts  are  newly  touched  with  a  conviction  of  the  terrible 
importance  of  the  eternal  world ;  one  or  two,  from  whose 
souls  the  shroud  that  hides  infinity  is  withdrawn, — to 
whose  spirit  the  gloomy  abyss  of  everlasting  ruin  is  un- 
folded!   Perhaps  to  such  the  TiOrd  has  even  now  come 

2G- 


306 


The  Word  of  God. 


[SERM.  XX. 


near,  and,  in  the  unutterable  language  of  His  Spirit,  warned 
them  of  the  wrath  to  come !  Before  God,  I  know  not 
whether  I  should  wish  it !  I  know  not  whether  the  min- 
isters of  Christ  ought  to  wish  always  for  success!  "  Woe 
is  unto  me  if  I  preacli  not  the  Gospel !"  but  woe  is  also 
unto  those  who  hear  and  will  not  heed, — who  are  called 
and  will  not  come, — whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is  assailing 
with  terrors  and  inducements,  and  who,  after  a  moment's 
passing  compunction,  return  to  the  world  the  children  of  a 
deeper  ruin,  the  heirs  of  a  more  aggravated  condemnation! 
Alas!  our  Lord  said  of  the  hypocrites  of  His  day,  that 
they  made  converts  who  were  more  thoroughly  the  chil- 
dren of  hell  for  their  conversion  ;  is  it  not  terrible  that  in 
oiir  day  the  consequences  of  exercising  the  Christian  min- 
istry should  often  be  as  awful  ?  I  repeat  it ; — by  being 
this  evening  within  this  house  of  God,  there  is  not  one 
among  us  who  has  not  come  under  an  obligation,  or 
strengthened  an  obligation,  that  cannot  be  cancelled  for 
eternity.  The  mere  opportunity  is  a  new  "  talent,"  of  which 
our  Master  will  demand  the  use.  The  man  who  has  once 
heard  the  Word  stands  for  evermore  on  a  new  level.  He 
has  incurred  new  duties  and  new  responsibilities.  The 
very  offer  is  his  unutterable  and  eternal  happiness,  or  a 
ruin  such  as  no  words  can  speak,  or — thanks  to  Heaven! — 
no  mind  (as  yet)  conceive  by  its  earthly  experience ! 
"This  day  is  salvation  come  to  this  house,"  said  Christ 
when  He  became  a  guest  in  the  house  of  Zaccheus;  we 
have  houses  in  which  the  offer  of  salvation  is  daily  made, 
and  in  which  Christ  is  evermore  ready  to  be  a  spiritual 
guest, — but  where  are  the  Zaccheuses  that  are  willing  to 
entertain  Him  ? 

Such,  brethren,  is  the  "  Word  of  God ;"  such  the  heavy 
responsibility  imposed  upon  those  who,  out  of  the  millions 
of  mankind,  are  permitted  to  be  its  hearers.  The  text  tells 
you,  that  the  people  "jiJresseJ"  to  listen  to  the  gracious 
words  of  Christ.    It  tells  us  little  of  their  motives.  But 


SERil.  XX.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


807 


we  may  easily  conjecture  them.  Admiration  at  tlie  won- 
derful teacher,  amazement  at  His  miracles,  curiosity  as  to 
the  end  and  object  of  his  discourse, — all  these  feelings 
must  have  attached  them  to  the  speaker.  Those  who  now 
take  up  the  Gospel  story  have  little  but  the  last  to  count 
on.  It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  better  principles 
were  not  wanting  to  this  Galilean  audience,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  readiness  with  which  Jesus  yielded  to  their 
wishes;  when,  sitting  in  Simon's  boat,  majestically  humble. 
He  taught  the  crowd  from  that  lowly  pulpit.  Neither  the 
discourse  which  He  delivered  on  this  occasion,  nor  the 
result  of  it,  is  preserved.  Whether  new  subjects  were 
gathered  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  additional  guilt 
heaped  on  its  despisers,  we  know  not, — any  more  than  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  can  know,  when  they  imitate  their 
Lord  in  discharging  a  similar  office.  But  the  God  incar- 
nate was  not  without  an  attentive  audience !  Doubtless,  the 
Angels  of  heaven  were  gathered  round  to  listen  to  those 
words  which  men  neglected ;  and  the  choir  of  heaven  was 
stilled,  to  hear  those  truths  whose  repetition  many  men 
can  barely  be  brought  to  tolerate  for  an  hour  in  each  suc- 
cessive week ! 

Yet,  my  brethren,  those  of  our  time,  too,  can  "press  to 
hear  the  Word  of  God."  If  crowded  churches  were  a  cer- 
tain test  of  thriving  Christianity,  our  age  might  claim  a 
high  place  in  religious  history.  If  earnest  conversation 
and  constant  activity  were  the  true  and  only  development 
of  the  Gospel  spirit,  the  golden  visions  of  prophecy  would 
no  longer  be  visions — our  Millennium  would  even  now  be 
at  hand  I ...  These  things,  brethren,  have  their  value;  but 
beware  how  they  absorb  you !  It  is  no  new  device  of 
Satan,  to  make  religion  itself  withdraw  men  from  God. 
Of  diffusive  religion  we  have  abundance ;  a  concentrative 
Christianity  is  what  we  require.  And  believe  it, — to 
"commune  with  our  own  hearts,  and  be  still"  is  the  finest 
preparative  for  external  usefulness.    Ho  who  would  spring 


308 


The  Word  of  God. 


[seem.  XX. 


far,  retreats  first.  There  is  a  deep  purport  in  that  expres- 
sion of  St  James — "the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown  in 
peace." 

"We  were  lastly,  brethren,  to  consider  the  "peoph''^  that 
press  to  hear ;  that  is,  the  characters  of  those,  who,  in  our 
time,  are  the  readers  and  hearers  of  Scripture  truth.  This, 
indeed,  is  a  topic  which,  it  is  evident,  must  necessarily 
mingle  with  every  part  of  the  subject;  nor  have  I  attempt- 
ed to  regard  it  altogether  apart  from  the  rest.  Neverthe- 
less, I  have  reserved  its  more  particular  consideration  to  a 
special  place ;  because  I  am  anxious,  before  we  separate,  to 
bring  before  you  in  their  respective  colors,  and  with  direct 
reference  to  their  religious  attainments  as  to  personal 
spiritual  happiness,  the  two  great  classes  that  practise  the 
perusal  of  the  "Word  of  God." 

I  beg  of  you,  then,  to  remember,  that  there  are  two 
ways  in  which  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  through 
Christ  may  be  presented  to  our  minds.  "VYe  may  know 
it  as  a  mass  of  doctrines  and  commands  offered  to  our 
acceptance  as  beings  possessed  of  reasonable  faculties,  and 
demanding  from  our  understandings  a  simple  assent  to 
their  truth; — and  we  may  know  it  in  such  a  sense  and 
degree,  as  that  it  becomes  the  pervading  principle  of  all 
our  actions  and  the  presiding  director  of  our  inmost 
thoughts,  the  Soul  of  our  souls,  the  Fountain  of  our 
moral  being,  the  central  force  of  the  whole  system  of  life 
and  conduct.  We  may  know  the  religion  of  Christ  just 
as  we  know  the  cotcmporary  history  of  the  time  in  which 
He  appeared,  a  schoolboy-lesson  whose  principal  facts  we 
take  care  to  master,  that  we  may  not  appear  ignorant  of 
that  which  all  men  have  learned ;  that  is,  we  may  know 
Christ  exactly  as  we  know  Pilate  who  crucified  Him,  or 
Tiberius  in  whose  reign  the  event  took  place — with  as 
little  love  for  Christ,  as  little  of  confidence  in  Christ,  as 
little  of  brotherly  charity  generated  by  the  Spirit  of 
Christ, — as  we  have  of  love,  of  faith,  or  of  cliarity,  in 


SERM.  XX.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


309 


contemplating  the  history  of  His  enemies  and  murderers. 
We  may  read  that  New  Testament  which  contains  the 
account  of  a  virtue,  the  bare  conception  of  which  no  human 
intellect  ever  attained  or  could  attain,  before  the  appear- 
ance of  its  divine  Hero ;  and  we  may  read  that  well-known 
volume  of  contemporary  annals  which  in  tracing  the 
lineaments  of  Tiberius  draws  a  portrait  of  vice  and  misery 
such  as  no  human  record  antecedent  to  its  publication,  it 
is  thought,  can  parallel;  and  we  may  lay  down  both 
volumes — presenting  as  they  do  an  account  of  the  Glory 
of  all  ages  and  the  Disgrace  of  his  own — with  equal  fulness 
of  intellectual  assent,  with  equal  (though  opposite)  de- 
grees of  languid  moral  emotion,  and  with  equal — that  is 
with  entire — absence  of  all  resulting  influence  whatever 
upon  our  present  daily  course  of  life.  Brethren  !  I  appeal 
to  your  own  experience,  do  I  overstate  the  fact  ?  and  if 
it  be  (as  is  most  certain)  the  truth  of  the  case  in  innu- 
merable instances,  what  shall  I  say,  but  that  the  existence 
of  such  inconceivable  obduracy  in  so  many  cases  where 
every  opportunity  has  been  offered  by  Providence  for 
kindling  this  dead  inoperative  acquaintance  with  Scripture 
into  a  real,  vital,  spiritual,  practical  knowledge  and  ap- 
preciation of  God,  stands  as  an  appalling  proof  of  the 
mystic  depths  of  human  corruption,  and  of  the  over- 
whelming necessity  which  exists  of  some  extra-human  aid 
which  may  counterwork  this  corruption  by  an  operation 
as  mysteriously  profound,  and  pervading,  and  perpetual, 
as  its  own. 

I  pray  God  that  I  may  be  experimentally  understood 
by  many  here  present,  when  I  reverse  the  picture,  and 
declare,  that  if  there  be  truth  in  the  Scriptures  of  God, 
or  in  the  history  of  His  Church's  saintly  champions  in 
every  age, — there  is  a  knowledge  of  Christ  as  different 
from  this  miserable  burthening  of  memory  with  names 
and  dates  and  disputations,  as  the  spring  and  spirit  in  the 


310 


The  Word  of  Ood. 


[SERM.  XX. 


motions  of  a  living  body  are  from  the  shaking  of  the  bones 
of  a  skeleton.  The  "  new  man  which  after  God  is  created 
in  righteousness  and  true  holiness"  obtains  his  newness  of 
life  by  another  process.  Knowledge,  indeed,  he  must  pos- 
sess ;  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  the  Christian  story  and  the 
doctrines  of  its  teachers — these  are  the  bones  and  frame- 
work upon  which  the  animated  body  of  his  holiness  is 
based  and  built ;  and  he  who  would  contemn  the  most 
laborious  exercise  of  our  natural  faculties  in  the  pursuit  of 
accuracy  in  the  knowledge  of  the  sacred  record,  forgets 
that  our  nature  is  made  to  reason  and  to  know,  as  well  as 
to  feel  and  to  aspire.  But  yet  the  feelings  and  the  hopes 
are  the  noble  portion — the  portion  prophetic  of  the  future; 
and  it  is  to  these,  accordingly,  that  Christianity  mainly 
ministers.  He,  then,  who  has  found  in  his  Bible  the  mate- 
rial for  conversation,  and  the  topic  for  discussion,  and  the 
field  for  criticism  and  controversy ;  but  who  has  not  found 
in  it  the  unfathomable  fountain  of  peace  undisturbed,  the 
solace  for  every  earthly  suffering,  the  silent  and  faithful 
friend,  the  glory  that  so  dazzles  the  eyes  with  the  bright- 
ness of  the  coming  world  that,  when  they  are  turned  from 
the  page,  they  cannot  see  the  misfortunes  of  this  one, — he 
who  has  not  found,  in  short,  "righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  ever  inviting  him  within  that 
volume, — though  he  may  know  the  lore  and  the  languages 
of  antiquity,  has  yet  to  learn  in  the  school  of  the  Spirit. 
"  The  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of 
God." 

Now,  brethren,  to  which  of  these  classes  does  your 
acquaintance  with  the  Word  of  God  belong?  No  country 
on  earth  is  more  favored  than  ours  with  opportunities  of 
religious  advancement.  It  may  not  he  long  so.  Few  men 
can  dare  to  conjecture  what  may  be  its  future  destinies ; 
no  man  can  assure  it  a  security  in  the  continuance  of  its 
religious  advantages,  unless  indeed  in  those  melancholy 


SERM.  XX.] 


The  Word  of  God. 


811 


advantages  whicli  adversity  may  bring,  when  tlie  God 
who  will  never  forsake  His  Church,  may  yet  see  fit  to  try 
it  with  persecution.  The  "refiner's  fire"  may  be  needed 
to  purify  it.  I  repeat,  then,  are  you  even  noiv  availing 
yourselves  of  the  means  which  a  pure  Scriptural  Church 
affords  you  of  Scriptural  enlightenment  ?  Are  you  acting 
up  to  the  position  in  which  God  has  placed  you  in  His 
Christian  Church;  and  by  which,  from  the  pages  of  the 
Gospel,  He  will  hereafter  try  you  ?  Or  are  you  poorly 
content  with  the  cold  ceremonial  of  Sabbath  observances 
— the  religion  of  demure  looks,  and  bended  knees,  and 
frigid  regularity  in  services  that  have  no  life  in  them? 
Do  you  bring  yourselves  outwardly  and  visibly  to  these 
churches,  but  leave  your  hearts  behind  you  as  you  enter ; 
giving  to  God  the  weekly  service  of  the  lip,  to  man  and 
man's  devices  the  constant  adoration  of  the  soul  ?  Think 
you  that  God  made  you  to  be  religious  automatons?  O 
brethren !  beware  (and  by  earnest  prayer  for  God's  Holy 
Spirit  alone,  can  you  escape  it)  beware  of  the  Christianity 
of  the  formalist !  The  man  who  reads  or  hears  this  "Word 
of  God,  unanimated  by  pra3'^er  and  untaught  by  the  Spirit, 
is  one  who  stands  at  the  door  of  a  temple  he  cannot  enter; 
he  holds  the  key  of  a  treasury  which  he  cannot  unlock ; 
he  stands  weak  and  thirsting  beside  a  glorious  and  abound- 
ing torrent  which  he  cannot  stoop  to  drink  ; — or  like  that 
infirm  man  who  tarried  so  long  by  the  pool  of  Bethesda, 
and  had  no  one  "  to  put  him  into  the  pool"  on  the  very 
edge  of  which  he  lay  diseased  or  dying.  Oh !  if  any  such 
be  at  this  hour  here  present,  may  the  Saviour  Himself, 
looking  upon  him  as  He  did  upon  that  infirm  one,  say  to 
him,  "  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk !" — may  he  who 
thus  lives  in  the  midst  of  opportunities — in  the  very  garden 
of  the  Holy  Ghost's  graces — be  led  once  more  to  his  Bible, 
and  find  the  words  that  of  old  glided  before  his  eye  with- 
out leaving  a  trace  on  his  spirit,  impregnated  now  with  a 


312 


The  Word  of  God. 


[SEKM.  XX. 


divinity  better  than  that  of  school,  or  sect,  or  party, — the 
supernatural  fervor  and  force  which  makes  the  "  Word  of 
God  quick  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword  1" 


SERMON  XXI. 

THE  CLAIMS  OF  SPIRITUAL  DESTITUTION. 

(Preached  at  St  Patrick's,  Nor.  28,  1844,  for  the  Additional  Curates'  Fund.) 

. . .  Having  hope,  when  your  faith  is  increased,  that  we  shall  be  enlarged  by 
you  according  to  our  rule  abundantly.  To  preach  the  go.spel  in  the  regions 
beyond  you,  and  not  to  boast  in  another  man's  line  of  things,  made  ready  to 
our  hand. — 2  Cor.  x.  15,  16. 

In  all  that  concerns  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  ministerial  office,  one  naturally  turns  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  history  of  St  Paul,  and  still  more — to 
those  wonderful  letters  of  his,  in  -which  the  high  principles 
of  the  minister  and  the  tender  feelings  of  the  man  are  so 
beautifully  blended  together,  and  portrayed  -with  so  subdu- 
ing a  power  and  impress! veness.  Some  of  the  excellencies 
of  these  writings  we  may  indeed  owe  in  no  small  degree  to 
the  very  fact  that  they  are  letters,  and  not — as  some  have 
vainly  desired  in  their  stead — grave  didactic  treatises  on 
theological  truths.  There  is  a  most  observable  wisdom  in 
that  arrangement  of  the  revelation  of  God  to  man,  by  which 
so  large  and  important  a  portion  of  its  contents  is  conveyed 
in  the  peculiar  form  of  Epistles;  of  Epistles,  which,  being 
the  exact  medium  between  the  familiar  flow  of  ordinary 
discourse  and  the  methodical  precision  of  the  essay,  may 
be  said  to  unite  all  the  characteristic  advantages,  and  avoid 
the  peculiar  deficiencies,  of  both.  Christianity,  eminently 
VOL.  II.— 27 


314        The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.     [serm.  xxi. 

a  practical  institute,  is  taugbt  by  practical  models;  its 
blessed  Founder's  precepts  live  and  move  embodied  in  His 
life;  His  Apostles — like  Himself — are  not  more  the  de- 
liverers of  doctrine  tban  the  earnest  leaders  of  action. 
And  just  tbat  we  may  for  ever  know  tbem  as  such,  we 
have  them  with  us,  not  merely  in  the  historical  portrait  of 
a  contemporary,  nor  yet  in  elaborate  treatises  of  their  own 
where  the  distinctive  personality  of  the  writer  might  be 
almost  wholly  absorbed  in  his  subject, — but  in  letters,  that 
spring  out  of  action  and  breathe  its  earnest  spirit;  in  letters, 
where  the  soul  spontaneously  paints  its  own  glowing  pic- 
ture; in  letters,  the  vivid  unconscious  transcripts  of  the 
inmost  heart. 

Letters,  too,  will  naturally  enter  upon  details,  to  which 
systematic  discourses  can  rarely  descend.  And  though  our 
Blessed  Lord's  discourses  were  certainly  not  systematic  ex- 
positions of  truth,  from  them  also  the  Apostolic  Epistles — 
and  eminently  those  of  St  Paul — are  in  this  respect  remark- 
ably distinguished.  There  is,  in  this  point  of  view,  a  dis- 
tinctive appropriateness  in  the  styles  of  the  Master  and  His 
Disciples,  which  of  itself  forms  no  small  internal  evidence 
of  the  genuineness  of  both.  The  Lord  usually  delivers 
broad  and  comprehensive  principles,  and  truths  of  universal 
application, — the  profound  parable,  the  pithy  and  almost 
proverbial  maxim, — such  as  became  the  Founder  and  Legis- 
lator ;  the  Apostles  teach  in  more  particular  and  special 
detail,  as  suited  the  practical  appliers  of  His  precepts. 
They  explain — or  direct — or  predict — detached  instances, 
as  those  who  are  instructed  by  another;  He  proclaims  from 
the  beginning,  in  His  comprehensive  formulas,  the  whole 
operation  of  the  Christian  principles,  as  befitted  the  Author 
and  Mechanist  of  the  entire  system; — they  are  mainly 
busied  with  facts.  He,  with  laws  and  relations ;  a  difference 
so  pervading  at  once  and  so  refined,  and  corresponding  so 
exactly  to  the  respective  capacity  and  dignity  of  the  pei' 


SERM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.  315 

sons,  as,  I  venture  to  say,  no  possible  supposition  but  that 
of  genuineness  and  reality  can  satisfy. 

This  close  and  intricate  involution  of  the  principles  of 
Christian  duty  in  the  facts  that  embody  them,  may,  some- 
times, make  it  a  matter  of  some  difficulty,  to  extract  the 
whole  amount  of  permanent  instruction  contained  in  a 
chapter  or  a  passage  of  St  Paul ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it 
makes  the  research  always  interesting,  and  it  certainly 
often  justifies  applications  and  deductions  which,  at  the 
first  hasty  glance,  might  seem  not  so  much  inferred,  as 
extorted,  from  the  text.  The  Inspired  Word  of  God  bears 
the  same  relation  to  the  happiest  of  human  compositions, 
that  His  natural  creations — His  flowers  of  the  field,  His 
insects  of  the  air — bear  to  our  most  exquisite  mechanical 
textures;  the  increasing  powers  of  the  microscope  but 
discover  increasing  beauties  in  the  one,  they  but  expose 
yet  more  and  more  the  hidden  defects  and  blemishes  of  the 
other. 

It  is  not,  however,  any  very  forced  or  remote  con- 
nection after  all — that  applies  the  passage  before  us,  viewed 
together  with  some  other  notices  that  speedily  follow  it,  of 
the  Apostle's  relation  to  the  Corinthian  Church,  to  the  case 
of  the  Society  whose  interests  have  drawn  us  together  this 
day.  We  are  met  to  review,  and  to  aid,  the  operations  of 
an  Association,  whose  object  is  to  teach  the  various  dis- 
tricts of  the  Church  how  to  sympathize  with  each  other's 
wants;  to  make  the  preachers  of  Christ's  Gospel,  in  the 
remotest  regions  of  our  land,  the  willing  and  happy  debtors 
to  Christian  benevolence  here.  Now  the  Apostle  Paul 
was  himself  supported,  during  the  period  of  his  stay  at 
Corinth,  by  the  resources  of  a  distant  Church,  as  he  is 
reluctantly  obliged  to  remind  the  Corinthians  in  the  next 
chapter,  and  the  chapter  following  it ;  a  circumstance  which 
indeed  is  latently  present  in  the  former  of  the  verses  under 
our  consideration ;  for  those  who  have  studied  the  perfect 
courtesy  of  the  Apostle's  style,  can  scarcely  doubt,  that  he 


316         Tlie  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destiluiion.      [SERM.  XXL 


designs,  in  some  measure,  to  compensate  for  tliis  severe 
reflection  on  their  liberality,  when  he  there  speaks  of  a 
support  yet  more  precious  and  potent  than  their  silver  and 
gold, — of  the  increase  of  their  "faith"  as  "abundantly 
enlarging"  his  powers  of  prosecuting  the  work  of  the 
Gospel ;  if  not — as  indeed  it  ought  always  to  do — by  direct 
contribution  (an  application  I  might  fairly  make  of  the 
clause),  yet  at  least  by  spreading  the  influence,  and  facili- 
tating the  reception,  of  the  truth.  Again, — his  professed 
purpose  in  the  second  of  these  verses,  is  "to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  the  regions  heyond  them ;  to  carry  the  message  of 
eternal  life  which  he  was  commissioned  to  deliver,  not 
merely  to  their  city, — central,  and  wealthy,  and  politically 
important  like  our  own, — but  to  outlying  districts  yet 
unvisited  by  the  grace  of  God,  but  equally  included  in  the 
ample  terms  of  the  apostolic  mission.  While  once  more, 
— in  the  next  clause,  (as  in  the  preceding  context  for  two 
or  three  verses,)  is  involved  the  important  principle  which 
directs  the  course  of  that  preaching  which  Christian  charity 
sustained ;  he  had  just  said,  that  the  range  of  his  ministry 
was  to  be  "  enlarged"  strictly  according  to  her  prescribed 
"  canon,"  or  definite  district ;  he  here  adds,  that  he  was 
resolute  not  "  to  boast  in  another  man's ;" — that  is  to  say, 
— he  limited,  not  indeed  the  compass  of  his  Christian  love, 
but  the  exercise  of  his  ministerial  function,  to  a  stated 
measure,  "  the  measure,"  as  he  calls  it  a  little  before  (ver. 
13,)  "of  the  rule  which  God  hath  distributed  to  us;"  a 
principle  in  whose  application  Paul  was  guided  by  inspi- 
ration, we  by  settled  ecclesiastical  authority, — he  as  a  mis- 
sionary into  new  regions,  we  as  helpers  in  the  old ;  but  which 
— except  that  indeed  the  latter  consideration  heightens  the 
obligation — in  itself  is  obviously  unchanged  from  his  day 
to  ours,  and  the  recognition  of  which  forms  one  of  the 
characteristic  merits  of  the  Society  whose  constitution  and 
progress  engage  us  on  this  occasion. 

So  that  the  passage — at  least  when  viewed  under  the 


SERM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiriiual  Destilution.  317 

light  reflected  from  its  context  and  the  circumstances  of  its 
inspired  writer — seems  clearly  enough  to  express,  or  to 
suggest,  these  three  important  principles  ; — the  great  gene- 
ral duty  of  extending  and  maintaining  the  ministry  of  the 
Gospel  beyond  the  more  central,  and  prominent,  and  favored 
districts  of  its  domain ;  the  blessedness  of  that  charity 
which  voluntarily  supports  a  distant  ministry,  even  while 
maintaining  its  own ;  and  the  propriety  of  prosecuting  the 
work  in  strict  adherence  to  a  settled  distribution  of  min- 
isterial labor,  under  prescribed  authority,  and  especially — 
for  on  this  the  Apostle  eminently  insists — with  a  careful 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  ministry  previously  located 
in  each  district  of  the  Church. 

I.  On  the  first  of  these  great  principles  of  Divine  guid- 
nance  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary  that  I  should  very 
urgently  insist.  The  spiritual  claims  of  poor  and  remote 
districts  are  not  only  compatible  with  the  acknowledgement 
of  our  own  mercies,  but  they  grow  with  it.  As  we  are  led 
more  and  more  to  appreciate  the  excellence  of  the  truth 
that  has  brought  light  and  joy  and  peace  to  ourselves,  we 
onust  become  proportionably  alive  to  the  misery  of  the 
want;  so  necessarily,  indeed,  that  the  one  becomes  the  test 
and  measure  of  the  other ;  and  we  can  as  little  imagine  the 
consciousness  of  height  without  any  conception  of  depth, 
as  imagine  the  earnest  reception  of  elevating  truths  in  the 
heart  and  understanding  of  man  without  a  corresponding 
sense  of  the  deep  and  mournful  destitution  of  those  who 
are  still  sunk  in  the  wretchedness  of  unenlightened,  or 
almost  unenlightened,  nature.  God,  in  His  ordinary  pro- 
vidence, has  committed  the  fortunes  of  His  truth  in  the 
world  to  the  working  of  this  difi'usive  principle.  Com- 
manding us  to  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  He 
has  provided  that  in  proportion  as  the  preacher  is  by  per- 
sonal holiness  qualified  for  his  work,  he  should  feci  con- 
strained to  achieve  it ;  that  the  duty  should  appear  to  grow 
in  obligation  exactly  as  the  man  grow  in  special  fitness  for 

27* 


318         The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.      [serm.  XXI. 

discharging  its  requirements.  But,  beyond  this  principle 
— proceeding  from  the  simple  appreciation  of  the  infinite 
value  of  the  truth, — we  arc  to  reflect,  how,  the  progress 
and  the  triumph  of  the  Gospel  in  the  hearts  of  men  stand- 
ing, above  all  things,  in  the  growth  and  the  perfection  of 
the  principle  of  love,  it  becomes  essential  to  its  thorough  re- 
ception, that  its  universal  reception  should  be  the  object  of 
desire ;  to  observe  and  admire  how  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
is  thus  maintained  and  diffused  by  the  operation  of  the 
very  principle  it  is  itself  constituted  to  maintain  and  to 
diffuse ;  how  the  Gospel  thus  possesses  a  self-supporting 
vitality,  and  the  Church  grows  and  gathers  new  elements 
into  itself,  like  a  living  creature,  by  the  natural  and  neces- 
sary working  of  the  animating  spirit  that  is  within  it.  It 
is  true  that  these  principles  apply  to  all  missionary  labor ; 
souls  are  all  equally  capable  of  receiving  the  seed  of  im- 
mortal life;  near  or  remote  as  regards  us,  they  are  all 
equally  near  to  the  throne  and  to  the  heart  of  that  God 
who  fills  the  amplitude  of  immensity.  But  undoubtedly, 
they  also  leave  untouched  that  scale  of  comparative  obliga- 
tion, which,  while  it  commends  our  own  families,  kindred, 
dependents,  neighbors,  to  our  first  care,  does  also,  by  the 
very  same  principle,  invest  the  spiritual  poverty  of  the 
destitute  districts  of  our  own  Church  and  country  with  a 
more  urgent  claim  than  any  beyond  their  limits  can  plead. 
In  this  country  it  is  indeed  remarkable,  that  its  most  dis- 
tant shores  have  of  late  been  the  very  scenes  of  its  highest 
religious  interest ;  and  we  may,  perhaps,  venture  to  accept 
it  as  an  indication  that  the  spiritual  life  of  our  Church  is 
still  unimpaired  when  we  find  that  its  energies,  far  from 
needing  to  rally  to  the  heart,  are  in  full  and  vigorous  ac- 
tion at  its  remotest  extremities. 

II.  I  pass  to  the  second  consideration  presented  in  the 
text,  I  have  spoken  of  the  claims  of  poor  and  distant  dis- 
tricts; I  must  now  speak  of  the  prompt  beneficence  that 
relieves  them. 


SEEM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.  319 

The  Christians  of  Macedonia,  like  all  other  Churches 
of  the  time,  were  under  a  direct  obligation  to  support  their 
own  ministry ;  that  "  deep  poverty"  which  in  this  Epistle 
St  Paul  expressly  records,  rendered  this  a  task  sufficiently 
onerous;  but  the  sympathies  of  at  least  one  principal 
society  among  them  embraced  the  most  distant  of  their 
Apostle's  labors — he  could  not  travel  beyond  the  compass 
of  their  affection,  nor  the  remoteness  of  the  Churches 
to  which  he  ministered  forfeit  their  claim  on  the  benefi- 
cence of  those  their  humble  fellow-Christians.  Philippi 
is  in  one  respect  not  the  least  remarkable  spot  in  Europe ; 
whatever  amount  of  European  conversions  may  have  pre- 
ceded the  vision  of  the  "man  of  Macedonia,"  Philippi 
was  the  scene  on  which  the  great  teacher  of  the  Gentiles 
first  solemnly  delivered  the  Gospel  to  that  continent  which 
has  since  been,  with  its  adjacent  islands,  the  grand  theatre 
of  the  Church's  history,  and  whose  various  races,  gifted 
beyond  all  the  tribes  of  mankind,  have  been  manifestly 
designed  by  Providence  to  act  as  His  chief  instruments  in 
evangelizing  the  whole  earth.  And  the  pre-eminence  of 
its  charity  seems  to  have  corresponded  to  the  precedency  of 
its  faith ;  these  poor  persecuted  Philippians  willingly  con- 
stituted themselves  the  Apostle's  treasurers;  and  whether 
he  were  in  the  course  of  travel,  as  at  Corinth,  or  in  prison, 
as  at  Rome,  their  beneficence  found  means  to  reach  him. 
This  was  their  liberality — often  and  earnestly  acknowledged 
— to  Paul  himself  But  when  you  remember  that  these 
same  Churches  of  Macedon  were  likewise  distinguished  (in 
which  indeed  our  Corinthians  had  also  honorable  share)  for 
the  promptitude  of  their  ordinary  charity  to  distant 
brethren ;  and  that,  of  all  the  forms  of  charity,  that  would, 
in  the  estimate  of  men  so  devoted,  rank  the  highest,  which 
provides  for  famishing  spirits  the  bread  of  eternal  life, — 
you  can  scarcely  doubt,  that  in  this  affectionate  support  of 
St  Paul  himself,  there  was  mingled  a  solicitude  for  the 
objects  of  his  mission ;  that  they  helped  him  not  merely  as 


320        The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destiluiion.     [serm.  xxi. 

a  beloved  friend,  but  as  tliat  commissioned  teaclier  from  God, 
on  whose  maintenance  in  Lcaltb,  and  energy,  and  resources, 
the  immortal  destinies  of  thousands  were  suspended.  In 
supporting  this  distant  minister,  then,  they  knew  themselves 
to  be  upholding  the  cause  of  the  thousands  to  whom  he 
ministered;  in  adding  their  voluntary  taxation  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  remote  Churches  to  the  maintenance  of 
their  own  ordinary  ministry,  they  become  the  appropriate 
example  that  directs,  and  that  justifies,  the  operations  of  a 
Society  such  as  yours.  Into  this  particular  branch  of  the 
subject  I  shall  not  further  enter;  as  I  learn  that  the  force  of 
this  great  and  striking  example  has  been  already  applied 
for  your  instruction ;  I  doubt  not,  with  a  happiness  of 
thought  and  clearness  of  expression,  which  I  should  pro- 
bably do  my  own  address  to  you  little  service  by  recalling 
to  your  remembrance.  This,  however,  ought  to  be  noted ; 
that  the  cases  are  rare  in  which  the  Philippian  example 
does  not  far  transcend  our  copy.  Obvious  as  the  truth  is, 
men  require  to  be  reminded  that  no  one  among  us  really 
contributes  to  the  support  of  the  ministry  of  his  own  parish 
except  as  the  channel  through  which  an  ancient  endow- 
ment passes.  The  case  however,  though  rare,  is  not  impos- 
sible. It  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  competent  for 
donors  to  this  Society  to  dedicate  their  charity  to  their  own 
district,  as  well  as  to  the  purposes  of  the  General  Fund ; 
and  thus,  to  enable  our  opulent  Christianity  to  present 
some  adequate  counterpart  to  the  liberality  of  the  poor 
Christians  of  Macedonia. 

To  demands  like  these,  men  are  often  satisfied — for  what 
sophistry  cannot  satisfy  the  reasoner  who  is  willing  to  be 
deceived  ? — to  allege  the  general  plea,  that  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Church  in  this  country  supersedes  all  fair  claims 
on  private  charity  for  the  support  of  additional  clergy. 
They  strangely  forget,  that  the  establishment  of  the  Church 
is  just  the  reason  why  the  demand  may  fairly  be  made; 
the  reason — if  it  be  fair  to  ask  those  at  last  to  contribute, 


SEEM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.  321 

who  have  never  yet  been  voluntarily,  or  even  compulsorily, 
taxed  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel  in  the  land, — for  such 
is  the  meaning,  and  the  operation,  of  an  Establishment ; — 
the  reason — if  a  great  work  begun  and  blessed  with  success 
becomes  a  fair  argument  for  its  own  continuance ;  for  what 
else  is  our  Establishment  but  the  fruit  of  that  same  prin- 
ciple of  voluntary  charity  which  this  Society  is  intended  to 
elicit,  and  direct,  and  organize  ?  The  great  mass  of  Church 
property  is  itself  the  product  of  charity,  the  permanent 
result  of  the  love  of  souls  and  the  love  of  God.  Cathedrals, 
hospitals,  educational  Institutions,  parochial  endowments — 
are  but  visible  memorials  of  ancient  liberality ;  the  Estab- 
lished is,  in  a  great  measure,  only  the  Voluntary  fixed  and 
protected  by  law.  Surely  it  would  be  difiicult  to  match 
the  perversity,  which  not  only  forgets  the  beauty  and 
power  of  the  example,  but  actually  converts  it  into  an  argu- 
ment against  itself;  nay,  which  not  only  thus  erects  the 
very  monuments  of  ancient  charity  into  the  fortresses  of 
modern  avarice,  but  actually  deludes  men  into  imagining 
that  they  are  themselves  the  contributors  of  the  wealth 
which  was  inalienably  conferred  by  a  charity  older  than 
the  oldest  of  their  title-deeds. 

There  is,  then,  no  reason  why  the  principle  of  charitable 
establishment — of  endowment  for  the  ministers  of  religion, 
should  be  arrested  in  its  course  at  this  period  any  more 
than  in  its  earlier  ages ;  unless  all  the  wants  have  been  sup- 
plied which  it  was  designed  to  meet,  or  unless  we  are  miser- 
ably resolute  to  show  that  a  pure  religion  cannot  do  what 
was  done  in  days  of  scantier  light.  Keligious  Establish- 
ments may  tend,  as  they  accumulate,  to  suspend  the  im- 
pulses of  charity  to  men's  souls  as  a  Poor  Law  may  tend  to 
supersede,  and  by  disuse  to  paralyze,  the  impulses  of  charity 
to  their  bodies;  both  are  tendencies  which  require,  in  those 
who  will  train  their  hearts  in  the  loving  Spirit  of  heaven, 
to  be  vigilantly  guarded  against;  and  the  wants  and  the 
calls  of  a  Society  like  this  may  afford  an  useful  supplemental 


322         The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.     [serm.  xxi. 

discipline  in  one  of  these  departments  for  those  who  would 
escape  the  peril. 

Still, — men  are  so  powerfully  impressed  with  the  convic- 
tion of  the  enormous  and  superfluous  wealth  of  this  Estab- 
lishment of  ours,  that  they  are  strongly  disposed  to  main- 
tain their  principle  as  at  least  specifically  applicable  to  us, 
however  fallacious  it  may  be  in  the  abstract.  We  cannot 
indeed  wonder  at  the  extent  of  this  illusion,  when  we  re- 
member the  perseverance  of  falsehood  with  which  it  has 
been  sustained ;  and  when  we  reflect  how  much  more  the 
majority  of  mankind  are  led  by  repeated  assertion  than  by 
any  one  distinct  or  definable  evidence, — even  as  reiterated 
strokes  from  light  and  worthless  substances,  so  they  be  but 
tough  and  durable,  may  at  last  effect  an  impression  as  deep 
as  the  single  collision  of  a  weighty  mass.  This  is  not  the 
time,  nor  this  pulpit  perhaps  the  place,  for  any  minute  or 
extended  statement  of  matters  of  Ecclesiastical  finance ; 
but  a  fact  or  two  may  be  commended  to  your  considera- 
tion;— and  those  will  judge,  whether  the  wealth  of  the 
Church  Establishment  of  Ireland  places  it  wholly  beyond 
the  need  of  voluntary  aids,  who  are  informed,  or  reminded, 
that  nearly  one-third  of  the  benefices  of  our  Church  are 
under — many  much  under — £150  per  annum  ;  that  much 
more  than  half  of  the  entire,  fall  below  £300  per  annum; 
that  the  average  income  of  an  Irish  beneficiary,  the  income 
to  provide  for  the  wants  of  a  household,  the  pressing  de- 
mands of  charity,  the  necessary  expenses  of  a  prominent 
local  position  to  even  the  most  economical, — is  just  £225, 
— or,  including  assistant  Clergymen,  the  average  for  each 
member  of  our  profession,  £170  a  year.  In  times  when 
the  warfare  against  Church  property  often  only  disguises  a 
real  hostility  to  the  settled  establishment  of  property  of  all 
kinds,  it  may  be  no  material  step  in  the  argument  to  state, 
that  the  annual  income  of  a  single  great  proprietor  in  the 
sister  country  is  estimated  at  a  sum  little,  if  at  all,  below 


SERM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.  823 

the  entire  annual  revenue  of  all  the  beneficed  clergy  of 
Ireland. 

But  it  is  still  urged, — that  even  conceding  the  fact  of 
this  humble  average  provision  for  our  parish  ministers,  the 
wealthy  laity  of  our  land  are  not  called  upon  to  supply  the 
wants  of  its  crowded,  or  its  destitute,  parishes,  because  that 
the  property  is  ill-distributed ;  and  that  by  a  careful  and 
judicious  redistribution,  it  might  be  so  apportioned  in  the 
ratio  of  population,  as  to  relieve  them  of  the  intrusive 
claims  of  those  isolated  and  unprovided  congregations 
which  you  are  endeavoring  to  supply.  Of  course  this  form 
of  objection  totally  discards  the  claims  of  our  Church  to 
be  in  truth  and  in  God's  high  estimate, — and  in  our  hope, 
which,  however  faint,  we  dare  not  wholly  resign, — the 
rightful  Church  of  the  entire  nation;  a  question  of  deep 
interest,  on  which  I  have  however,  no  time  now  to  enter, 
and  which  perhaps  it  will  be  vain  even  to  expect  to  impress 
upon  the  public  mind,  until  the  arm  of  our  God  shall  raise 
up  among  us  men  who  will,  in  the  earnest  spirit  of  mission- 
aries, endeavor  to  verify  it.  But  meeting  the  objection  on 
lower  ground,  it  ought  to  be  observed  in  the  first  place, 
that  it  proceeds  upon  a  very  inaccurate  estimate  of  the 
relative  amount  of  labor  required  in  our  parishes,  which 
in  a  scattered  Church  population  is  never  in  the  exact  ratio 
of  numbers.  This,  however,  it  will  be  said,  may  be  ad- 
justed and  allowed  for.  But  how  can  men  speak  of  a 
change  like  this,  interfering,  both  through  patronage  and 
even  through  actual  impropriate  possession,  with  the  rights 
and  property  of  individuals,  through  all  the  upper  classes 
of  society,  as  of  a  matter  in  which  practice  can  be  made 
rapidly,  or  in  any  assignable  period,  to  follow  upon  the  cal- 
culations of  theory  ?  or  how  could  any  property  be  held 
secure  in  the  operation,  and  in  the  certain  influences,  of 
such  a  revolution? — Even  supposing  it  feasible,  it  is  quite 
evident  that  it  must,  (on  the  principles  confessed  by  even 
those  most  ardent  in  favor  of  such  alterations  of  the  pro- 


324        The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Desiiiutton.     [serm.  XXI. 

perty  of  corporate  institutions)  be  gradual,  and  dependent 
on  tlie  successive  deaths  of  existing  incumbents.  But  in 
the  meanwhile,  have  the  souls  of  men  no  claim  upon  the 
hearts  of  brother-men?  are  the  enterprises  of  charity  to 
pause  before  the  vague  possibilities  of  some  future  arrange- 
ment of  parochial  endowments?  will  nature  suspend  her 
curse,  and  man  cease  to  die  into  ruin  or  into  glory,  until  a 
theory  is  realized  ?  The  present  alone  is  ours,  the  moral 
"evil"  of  our  own  "day"  is  a  "sufficient"  allotment  for 
itself,  and,  God,  He  knows !  a  sufficient  burden  of  respon- 
sibility for  us  who  have  to  meet  and  to  resist  it ! — But 
observe  once  more,  how  unsatisfactory,  because  how  per- 
petually recurrent,  is  this  pretext  for  delay.  Population 
is  liable  to  perpetual  change ;  the  past  will  repeat  itself  in 
the  future;  the  variations  of  commerce,  the  irregular  tide 
of  emigration,  will  again  alter  the  territorial  distribution 
of  our  people;  and  the  plea  of  disproportionate  endow- 
ment, that  now  soothes  the  willing  conscience  of  the  Church 
layman,  is  likely  to  be  plausible  enough  for  that  purpose, 
for  ever. 

III.  So  far  for  the  claims  of  the  distant  and  the  spiritu- 
ally destitute  to  the  charity  of  their  more  favored  brethren; 
so  far  too  for  the  objections  one  sometimes  hears  to  the 
attempt  of  your  Society  to  relieve  them.  I  would  I  had 
more  time  than  I  can  now  venture  to  demand,  for  the  other 
topic  on  which  St  Paul  so  earnestly  insists;  the  prosecution 
of  this  work  of  the  ministry  in  adherence  to  the  settled 
distribution  of  districts,  and  with  careful  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  his  predecessors  in  each  field  of  labor.  It  is 
certain  that  he  regarded  this  matter  as  of  high  importance. 
"We  will  not,"  saith  he,  "boast  of  things  without  our 
measure,  but  according  to  the  measure  of  the  rule  which 
God  hath  distributed  to  us."  "  We  stretch  not  ourselves 
beyond  our  measure."  "Not  boasting  of  things  without 
our  measure,  that  is,  of  other  men's  labors."  "  Not  to  boast 
in  another  man's  line  of  things  made  ready  to  our  hand." 


SERM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitutim.  325 

Or,  as  hie  expresses  it  elsewhere  (Eora.  xv.  20),  avoiding  to 
"  build  on  another  man's  foundation."  It  is  impossible  not 
to  admit  this  to  be  of  real  consequence,  wben  we  perceive 
how  anxiously  and  repeatedly  he  impressed  it.  Inspiration 
and  experience  combined  to  press  its  importance  on  St 
Paul ;  nor  are  we  wise  if  we  hesitate  to  liear  and  obey  his 
judgment.  Your  Society,  by  placing  its  ministers  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Church,  and  more  especially,  in  subordina- 
tion to  the  appointed  pastors  of  each  parochial  district,  has 
fully  acknowledged  the  Apostle's  principle  of  missions  and 
ministry.  You  have  thereby  avoided  what,  doubtless,  he 
sought  to  avoid;  the  possible  interruption  of  harmony 
between  ministers  and  people ;  the  interruption,  scarcely 
less  pernicious,  of  the  habitual  convictions  of  the  people 
themselves ;  evils  which  greater  evils  may  sometimes  pos- 
sibly justify,  but  which  it  is  surely  better  to  avoid,  wherever 
the  great  object  of  all  our  ministrations  can  be  otherwise 
as  efficiently — nay  more  efficiently  obtained.  For  nothing 
can  equal  the  value  of  the  permanent  ministry,  as  the 
Apostles  themselves  everywhere  acknowledged  by  rapidly 
constituting  it  in  all  the  Churches  they  created;  the  ac- 
quaintance  it  alone  gives  with  the  heart  and  habits  of  each 
of  the  people, — and,  what  is  perhaps  still  more  important, 
the  sense  of  a  definite  responsibility  which  the  fixed  and 
settled  charge  of  souls  alone  can  ever  fully  impress  on  him 
who  is  appointed  to  tend  them.  Transitory  visits  have 
their  occasional  use ;  God,  I  doubt  not,  has  often  blessed 
them  to  glorious  results ;  they  may  awaken  interest,  and  at 
times  startle  the  worldly  dreamer  from  his  visions ; — but  he 
knows  little  of  the  nature  of  man  who  can  imagine  that  it 
is  thus  souls  are  really  saved  for  heaven ;  that  anything 
but  care  and  patience,  quiet  and  unremitting  watchfulness, 
will  ever  be  adequate — and  oh,  how  little  can  we  count  on 
the  adequacy  of  even  this ! —  to  keep  the  wayward  hearts 
of  men  steady  on  the  path  to  life  eternal. 

St  Paul  was  guided  by  inspired  communications  to  that 
VOL.  II.— 28 


326        The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destitution.     [serm.  xxi. 

"canon"  which  defined  his  movements;  we,  in  this,  as  in 
all  other  matters  of  the  kind,  have  the  ordinary  constitution 
of  the  Church  to  control  us,  instead  of  the  extraordinary 
guidance  of  the  Spirit;  permanent  canons — to  adopt  the 
Apostle's  term — instead  of  occasional  suggestions;  but 
both,  in  their  respective  ways,  rightfully  demanding  our 
obedient  acquiescence.  This  Society  gladly  blends  itself 
with  the  constitution,  and  the  action,  and  the  fortunes  of 
the  Church  to  which  it  ministers ;  and  I  should  do  little 
justice  to  either  its  claims  or  my  own  convictions  if  I  did 
not  impress  upon  you  the  importance  of  thus — as  it  exem- 
plifies— incorporating  all  the  religious  institutions  of  a 
country  with  the  fixed  pre-existing  system  of  the  Church 
itself;  making  them,  as  far  as  may  be,  sharers  in  its  vitality, 
and  coheritors  of  its  blessing.  Take  the  matter  on  the 
lowest  statement,  and  shall  we  not  fairly  affirm,  that  in 
whatever  degree  that  system  is  beyond  others,  accordant 
with  the  mind  of  Christ,  in  the  same  degree  may  those 
supplemental  institutions  which  are  grafted  into  its  stock, 
expect  to  meet  His  special  acceptance ;  they  are  not  ven- 
turously aspiring  after  new  favors,  but  humble  candidates 
for  old  and  established  blessings;  they  have  an  implicit 
promise  of  vigor  and  permanence  in  being  made  sharers  of 
a  system  which  is,  in  its  essential  elements,  by  God's  own 
promise,  immortal.  And  thus  ought  all  those  institutions 
whose  object  is  the  eternal  welfare  of  man — institutions 
educational  for  the  young,  or  (as  this)  educational  for  the 
adult  too, — as  far  as  may  be  possible  to  gather  into  and 
under  the  great  central  Institute  of  Christ  Himself;  they 
should  stand — to  borrow  an  image  from  the  scene  around 
me — something  as  those  minor  chapels  and  oratories  that 
cluster  round  our  great  cathedrals,  sheltered  beneath  the 
same  roof,  resting  on  the  same  consecrated  ground,  and 
partaking  of  the  sanctity  of  the  whole  structure.  In  each 
department  of  its  agency,  the  faithful  and  earnest  develop- 
ment of  the  system,  wiU,  I  doubt  not,  attest  its  Divine 


SERM.  XXI.]      The  Claims  of  Spiritual  Destituticni.  327 


constitution  by  its  success ;  for  I  can  discover  no  period  in 
which,  it  has  not  abeady  done  so.  Wherever  there  has 
been  failure  in  the  operations  of  the  Church,  the  failure  is 
easily  traceable  to  some  ambitious  human  substitution  for 
its  primitive  simplicity ;  whether  in  the  direction  of  that 
formalism  which  oppresses  the  animating  spirit,  or  of  that 
spiritualism  which  despises  the  organizing  form.  Of  this 
period  of  our  Church  history, — a  period  so  critically  inte- 
resting in  every  respect,  so  charged  with  mysterious — with 
fearful — uncertainty  in  some, — it  is  at  least  the  unquestion- 
able praise,  that  it  has  recognized  this  principle  in  one  im- 
portant field  of  labor  and  of  duty.  After  two  hundred 
years  of  total  neglect,  or  desultory  and  irregular  activity, 
Christian  England  has  at  length  proceeded  to  evangelize 
her  colonies  as  Paul  and  John  would  have  done ;  the  home 
Church  has  sent  its  Timothies  and  Tituses  to  be  the  angels 
of  Churches  abroad,  and  to  gather,  with  the  awful  yet 
tender  voice  of  authority  and  love,  the  stray  sheep  of  those 
wild  pastures  into  the  fold  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  no  other 
spirit,  I  would  fain  hope  and  believe,  does  your  Society 
desire  to  conduct  its  operations ;  the  higher  authorities  are 
sent  to  the  destitute  Churches  abroad,  the  inferior  ministers 
are  supplied  by  you  to  districts  not  less  destitute  at  home ; 
but  both  in  their  places  ministering  as  parts  of  one  common 
system  of  disciplined  activity,  and  both — as  I  pray  and 
beseech  the  most  High  God  to  grant — partakers  of  one 
blessing  I 


SEHMON  XXII. 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  SUBMISSION. 
(Preached  at  the  Magdalen  Asylum,  May  28,  1837.) 
For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light. — Matthew  xi.  30. 

You  are  well  aware  that  these  words — these  few  but 
most  impressive  words — which  I  have  just  read,  my  breth- 
ren, are  the  words  of  Christ,  and  are  spoken  by  Ilim  as  a 
character  of  the  religion  which  He  came  on  earth  to  found, 
and  which  you  solemnly  profess  to  believe.  They  are 
(when  taken  in  connection  with  the  exhortation  which  im- 
mediately precedes  them)  to  be  considered  as  a  declaration 
invested  with  all  conceivable  authority,  of  the  purpose  and 
the  qualities  of  that  great  final  communication  of  the  will 
of  God  to  man  which  consummated  all  former  revelations, 
and  to  which  all  former  revelations  were  as  much  prelimi- 
nary as  the  inferior  and  preparatory  parts  of  a  plant  are 
introductory  in  time,  and  subordinate  in  dignity,  to  its 
last  perfection  in  the  fruit  or  flower.  This  character  of 
practical  Christianity  was  delivered  early  in  the  ministry 
of  the  great  Prophet  and  Priest  of  our  faith ;  as  if  He  was 
solicitous  to  publish  from  the  first,  in  a  form  simple  and 
condensed,  and  universally  intelligible,  the  true  design  and 
principles  of  His  work  on  earth.  Since  the  day  when  that 
sentence  was  spoken  by  Him  who  is  Truth  itself,  it  has 
been,  perhaps  beyond  any  other  passage  of  the  Holy  Vol- 


SEKM.  XXII.]    The  Blessedness  of  Submission.  329 

ume,  the  strength  and  consolation  of  thousands.  If  it  were 
given  us  at  this  hour  to  behold  in.  vision  the  multitudes 
in  every  age  who  have  drank  of  the  well  of  blessings 
which  is  continually  springing  from  this  inestimable  decla- 
ration ;  if  our  Bibles  could  retain  the  pictured  shadows  of 
those  hosts  of  sad  and  sorrowing  faces  that  in  the  long 
succession  of  centuries  and  the  wide  variety  of  Christian- 
ized countries  have  bowed  over  the  page  that  speaks  these 
words  of  refreshment,  and  risen  renewed  in  hope  and  hap- 
piness,— truly  we  might  have  wherewith  to  silence  the 
scoffer,  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  testify  that  "the  eye  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  them  that  fear  Him,  upon  them  that  hope  in 
His  mercy !"  (Psalm  xxxiii.  18.)  But  the  true  disciples  of 
Christ — they  who  imbibe  the  balm  of  His  consolation,  and 
make  His  service  their  refuge  from  the  world's  heartless 
services — are  a  scattered  band.  Dispersed  as  they  are  over 
places  and  ages,  we  cannot  collect  them  into  groups  and 
assemblies  to  impress  our  eyes  with  their  number ;  their 
invaluable  testimony  is  too  often  lost  amid  the  din  and 
bustle  of  a  world  that  never  loses  the  advantage  of  its 
own  restless  boastfulness.  The  offers  that  the  world  makes 
to  mankind  to  assume  its  gilded  yoke,  are  loud  and  urgent; 
they  who  adopt  the  yoke  of  Christ  are  by  the  very  tenure 
of  their  service  humble,  and  submissive,  and  resigned. 
And  where  it  is  God's  high  purpose  that  His  people  in 
their  gradual  progress  to  purification  should  walk  by  faith 
and  not  by  sight,  some  partial  concealment  of  this  kind  is 
perhaps  best  suited  to  such  a  state.  If  the  scattered  ex- 
amples of  Christian  holiness  and  happiness  could  be  com- 
bined into  a  single  radiant  band,  if  the  separated  members 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  could,  by  some  secret  attraction, 
meet  and  coalesce,  I  believe  that  such  an  exhibition  of 
genuine  dignity  and  deep  contented  satisfaction  would 
result,  that  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  could  scarcely  be  said 
any  longer  to  walk  by  faith  merely,  when  the  heaven  to 
which  their  foith  was  directed  was  thus  presented  to  their 

28* 


330 


The  Blessedness  of  Submission.    [SERM.  xxil. 


very  senses.  The  few  that  by  profound  experience  know 
the  "yoke"  of  Christ  to  be  "easy,"  are  specks  in  the  mul- 
titude of  man ;  they  are  collected  into  no  single  aggregate 
that  man  can  perceive.  The  sheepfold  of  Christ's  flock  is 
no  material  or  visible  inclosure,  it  is  the  circle  of  love 
which  is  traced  in  the  eternal  mind  of  the  good  Shepherd 
Himself,  and  whose  compass  is  known  to  him  alone.  And 
if  we  are  told  that  "the  sheep  hear  Ilis  voice,"  yet  we 
know  that  it  is  by  the  Spirit  they  hear;  and  if  we  are  told 
that  "  He  calleth  His  own  sheep  by  name,  and  leadeth  them 
out,"  yet  we  know  that  it  is  by  the  Spirit  he  addresses 
them  and  by  the  Spirit  He  guides  His  little  flock  to  the 
"  pastures"  and  the  "  still  waters."  (Psalm  xxiii.  2.)  We 
know  that  the  history  of  the  people  of  Christ  is  a  history 
not  written  in  any  earthly  volume ;  there  are  no  statistics 
of  this  holy  nation ;  no  record  that  can  be  numbered  and 
understood  by  every  cursory  inquirer.  The  Father  "  who 
seeth  in  secret"  will  "reward  openly:"  but  this  life  is  not 
the  season  of  that  reward. 

I  say,  then,  that  we  are  not  to  be  deprived  of  the  valu- 
able testimony  of  those  who,  in  deep  retirement  of  spirit, 
have  learned  to  feel  how  easy  is  the  yoke  of  Christ  and 
how  light  is  his  burden.  If  their  very  humility  prevents  some 
from  making  widely  known  the  secrets  of  their  joy,  if  a 
natural  timidity  prevents  others,  if  habits  of  grave  cau- 
tion against  self-reliance  prevent  a  third  class,  if  the  loneli- 
ness of  a  way  of  life  sequestered  from  the  world  prevent  a 
fourth,  or  the  absence  of  learned  education  and  the  want 
of  suitable  language  hinder  a  fifth, — let  not  the  general 
world  count  truth  by  multitude,  or  idly  imagine  that  happi- 
ness does  not  exist  because  not  made  the  topic  of  public 
report  or  busy  boast.  It  is  worldly  happiness  that  seeks 
these  accessories,  because  it  is  worldly  happiness  that  alone 
requires  them!  And  nothing  can  more  strikingly  evince 
the  very  hollowness  of  that  restless  dream  which  constitutes 
the  pleasure  of  this  life,  than  the  very  necessity  which  it 


SEEM,  XXll.]    The  Blessedness  of  Submission. 


331 


involves  of  this  perpetual  recourse  to  others.  Its  happi- 
ness is,  to  be  thought  happy.  It  cannot  stand  the  test  of 
solitude.  It  is  the  creature  of  times,  and  places,  and  cir- 
cumstances. When  it  does  seek  solitude,  it  is  only  such  a 
solitude  as  the  insanity  of  the  miser  or  the  grossness  of 
sensual  indulgence ;  it  ceases  to  be  dependent  on  the 
fellow-mortal  only  to  become  equally  dependent  on  the 
inanimate  creation — the  very  fruits,  nay  the  very  clay 
of  the  earth !  But  that  scattered  people  of  Christ, 
of  whom  I  have  spoken,  know  that  there  is  a  peace  which 
asks  no  witness,  though  it  loves  a  friend ;  a  peace  which 
can  abide  an  earthly  solitude  or  contemn  an  earthly  fame ; 
because  its  solitude  is  peopled  by  angels,  and  its  fame  is 
bright  in  the  records  of  heaven  ! 

I  do  not  speak  now  of  the  multitude  of  witnesses  to  the 
reality  of  the  Christian  promises  of  happiness,  who  have 
left  their  evidence  on  record ;  for  my  object  has  rather  been 
to  resist  a  prejudice  than  to  establish  a  truth.  But,  brethren, 
if  I  were  to  open  this  page  of  the  argument,  with  what 
facility  might  the  fact  be  manifested !  From  the  earliest 
Christian  century  even  to  our  own  day,  the  chain  of  linked 
piety  may  be  said  never  to  have  been  utterly  broken,  though 
often  indeed  attenuated ;  and  so  watchful  and  perpetual  has 
been  the  providence  of  our  gracious  Master,  that  even  in 
the  midst  of  seasons  the  most  discouraging,  those  blessings 
have  never  been  absolutely  extinct.  We  forget  the  in- 
ternal nature  of  the  Christian  blessedness  when  we  suppose 
that  even  in  the  worst  of  times  "  God  left  Himself  without 
witness,  in  that  Jle  did  good.''''  (Acts  xiv.  17.)  When  Paul 
is  asserting  this  point,  he  is  speaking  of  those  "times  past'' 
of  heathenism  in  which  the  "  good"  bestowed  by  God  con- 
sisted in  "rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our 
hearts  with  food  and  gladness."  If  such  blessings  as  these 
were  bestowed  for  a  testimony  in  the  dark  days  of  idolatry, 
shall  we  believe  that  the  dark  daj's  of  the  Church's  history, 
after  that  "  grace  and  truth  had  come  by  Jesus  Christ,"  were 


332  The  Blessedness  of  Submission,    [serm.  xxii. 

not  also  (secretly,  it  might  often  be)  refreshed  with  the  spi- 
ritual "  rain  from  heaven,"  the  spiritual  fruitfulncss,  and  the 
spiritual  gladness  ?  It  is,  indeed,  such  a  perpetuity  of  bless- 
edness that  constitutes — if  such  a  thing  exist  at  all — the  true 
perpetuity  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Trace  in  your  minds  the 
stages  of  that  Church's  annals.  Persecution  first  fostered  it, 
and  the  grace  of  Christ  was  found  like  the  oak  that  is  said  to 
strengthen  in  the  storm.  Prosperity  next  assailed  it,  but  even 
under  this  far  more  fatal  trial  God  still  reserved  to  Himself 
many  who  had  learned  how  to  "  use  this  world  as  not  abusing 
it."  And  when  the  most  subtle  artifice  of  him  who,  for  mys- 
terious purposes,  is  suffered  to  hold  principality  over  this 
world,  had  taken  eficct, — when  the  kingdom  that  was  "not  of 
this  world"  had  indeed  become  the  kingdom  of  this  world, — 
when  the  mystic  monarchy  of  Christ  had  been  usurped  by 
a  mortal,  and  the  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  Omnis- 
cient God  had  been  invaded  by  assemblies  great  only  in 
the  magnitude  of  their  presumption, — when  that  Spirit  of 
Truth,  of  whom  it  was  expressly  said  that  the  world  can- 
not receive  him,  was  claimed  by  an  hierarchy  which  itself 
represented  and  ruled  a  submissive  world, — even  then  (as 
their  remaining  writings  fully  attest)  there  did  exist,  even 
in  the  centre  of  these  delusions,  many  a  saintly  spirit  whose 
graces  vanquished  the  infelicity  of  his  position.  It  is  not 
tintU  the  last  great  day  of  account  that  it  will  be  fully 
known  what  accessions  each  century  of  the  Church  has 
contributed  to  the  witnesses  of  Christian  happiness  on  earth 
or  to  the  eternal  kingdom  of  Christ  in  glory.  We  are  apt 
to  trust  confidently,  that  our  own  generation  will  occupy 
an  honorable  place  in  the  great  enrolment.  Yet  let  us  be 
careful !  Many  may  come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  while 
the  children  of  the  kingdom  are  cast  out  into  outer  dark- 
ness. And  I  have  often  thought  (nor  to  those  who  love 
the  Christian  heart,  under  whatever  garment  it  beat,  is  the 
thought  unconsoling)  that  from  the  monastic  seclusions  of 
the  usurping  Church  of  Rome  will  on  that  day  be  seen  to 


SERM.  XXII.]    The  Blessedness  of  Submission. 


833 


issue  numbers  who,  triumpliant  by  God's  free  grace  over 
the  ignorance  within  and  around  them,  have,  in  spite  of 
the  disasters  of  their  outward  calling,  become  "  vessels  unto 
honor,  sanctified  and  meet  for  the  Master's  use,  prepared 
unto  every  good  work,"  (2  Tim.  ii.  21) — men  and  women 
who,  in  the  midst  of  the  Egyptian  darkness,  have  had  light 
in  their  houses  of  cloistered  solitude, — and  who  will  put  to 
shame  many  of  tbose  who,  living  in  a  country  of  nominal 
illumination,  have  themselves  walked  in  darkness  and  in 
the  shadow  of  death  !  Alas !  "  if  the  light  that  is  in  us  be 
darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness !" 

We  have  now,  brethren,  summoned — or  rather,  we  have 
invited  your  own  examination  of — the  witnesses  to  the 
truth  of  the  promise  of  exclusive  Christian  happiness. 
We  beseech  you  by  every  principle  of  reason  and  truth, 
we  beseech  you  as  you  value  the  destinies  of  immortality, 
to  weigh  well  the  nature  and  force  of  the  argument. 
Unless  you  can  believe  that  from  the  hour  when  (as  we  are 
told)  "the  disciples  were  filled  with  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost" 
— nay,  from  the  hour  when  the  precursor  of  Christ  leaped 
for  joy  in  the  womb  of  his  mother,  to  this  hour  (for  even 
now  we  are,  thanks  to  Divine  mercy!  compassed  about 
with  a  cloud  of  witnesses)  the  long  line  of  the  saints  and 
martyrs  of  the  Church  united  to  deceive  the  world ;  unless 
you  can  believe  that  they  who  endured  such  persecutions 
as  our  ancestors  in  the  faith  endured,  had  no  compensative 
satisfactions ;  unless  you  can  distrust  all  the  inferences  of 
history  and  all  the  direct  testimony  of  express  language ; 
there  is  a  happiness  attainable  by  the  service  of  Christ 
which  it  would  be  absolute  insanity  to  ascribe  to  any 
earthly  pursuit.  I  only  ask  you  to  exercise  your  reason 
on  this  greatest  of  all  questions  as  you  would  exercise  it 
on  the  pettiest  question  of  worldly  profit ;  and  to  choose 
for  yourselves  the  solution, — Are  all  the  records  of  devo- 
tional literature  a  lie,  or,  is  the  promise  of  the  Lord  capable 
of  fulfilment?    It  has  been  esteemed  a  convincing  argu- 


334  The  Blessedness  of  Submission,    [serm.  XXII. 

ment  in  arguing  the  Christian  evidences,  that  pain  and 
persecution  were  undergone  by  those  who  bore  the  testi- 
mony ;  and  it  has  been  irrcfragably  concluded  that  such 
evidence  under  such  circumstances  evinced  that  the  wit- 
nesses had  seen  and  heard  what,  in  the  flames  and  among 
the  lions,  they  persisted  to  declare  they  had  seen  and  heard : 
— but  this  scope  of  the  argument  is  unreasonably  limited 
if  we  forsake  it  when  we  have  left  the  primitive  age  of 
persecution.  If  the  convictions  of  sense,  the  sight  and  the 
hearing,  were  necessary  to  account  for  the  fortitude  of 
Peter  and  Paul  and  the  rest, — what  shall  we  say  of  the 
followers  of  these  early  martyrs,  who  in  every  age  have 
trodden  the  difficult  paths  of  similar  persecutions  ?  "What 
shall  we  say  of  the  martyrs  of  Pagan  Kome,  or  of  the  san- 
guinary triumphs  of  its  Papal  successor?  What  shall  we 
say  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  "  them  that  were  beheaded 
for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
which  had  not  worshipped  the  beast,  neither  his  image, 
neither  had  received  his  mark  upon  their  foreheads?" 
Nay, — that  I  may  pass  the  Ridleys  and  the  Latimers — let 
me  come  to  the  day  we  live  in ;  and  ask  you,  what  inference 
will  you  draw  from  the  instances  of  more  secret  but  not 
less  real  persecution  that  encompass  the  Christian  course  at 
this  very  hour  ?  Have  our  martrydoms  ceased  I  Or  are 
you  not  sadly  conscious  that,  in  this  age,  no  less  than  in 
the  age  of  him  who  wrote  the  words  (in  his  very  last  epis- 
tle, and  as  if  a  dying  bequest  of  truth) — "  all  that  will  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution  ?"  We  may 
weep  with  sincerity  when  we  read  of  the  rack  and  the 
stake, — we  may  thrill  with  the  triumph  and  the  pathos  of 
the  history  of  such  cases  as  that  of  the  aged  saint  who 
declared  that  at  the  end  of  eighty  years  he  would  not 
desert  the  Christ  who  for  eighty  years  had  never  deserted 
him,  and  turning  round,  bade  them  uncage  the  lions, — but 
I  protest  I  know  not  if  we  ought  to  be  less  deeply  and 
sincerely  moved,  when  we  reflect  on  the  numbers  of  those 


SERM.  XXII.]    The  Blessedness  of  Submission.  335 


who  at  this  present  time  are  exposed  to  a  more  civilized 
but  scarcely  a  more  lenient  persecution.  I  am  convinced 
I  do  not  pass  beyond  the  experience  of  many  here  when  I 
speak  of  that  cup  of  domestic  bitterness,  that  alienation  of 
friends,  that  solitude  in  the  world  and  inexpressible  loneli- 
ness of  heart,  which  so  often  become  the  lot  of  them  who 
give  up  father  and  mother  for  Christ.  If  this  inevitable 
connection  of  Avorldly  sorrow  with  Christian  joy  were  not 
destined  by  God  Himself,  what  means  the  whole  history  of 
Him  who,  having  the  thrones  of  all  the  earth  at  His  dispo- 
sal, yet  preferred  to  be  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  sanctified 
grief  by  eternally  blending  it  with  His  own  Divine  story  ? 
Was  not  the  crown  of  the  King  of  kings  a  crown  of  thorns  ? 
And  yet,  says  the  Apostle  to  the  Hebrews,  "  we  see  Jesus 
crowned  with  glory  and  honor."  Even  so  in  truth  it  is  ; — 
the  anguish  of  the  Redeemer  was  His  glory.  His  honor  to 
fulfil  in  His  sacrificial  afliictions  the  will  of  His  Father. 
If  he  would  resemble  him  in  the  eternal  Paradise,  we 
must  first  pass  an  hour  with  Him  in  the  garden  of  Gethse- 
mane ! 

But  what  I  would  insist  on  is  this.  If  man  be  made  to 
act  by  motives,  if  he  possess  the  dignity  of  even  a  machine, 
and  (like  it)  act  continuously  only  from  some  one  continu- 
ous principle  of  action, — I  ask  you,  what  principle  will  you 
introduce  to  account  for  the  Christian's  endurance  of  afflic- 
tion ?  You  admit  that  the  first  witnesses  must  have  had 
visible  proofs ;  how  then  do  you  account  for  the  story  of 
their  successors?  Christians!  they  "endured  as  seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible."  Believe  me,  the  burden  of  their 
worldly  agonies  could  not  have  been  borne  by  human 
hearts,  if  Christ  had  not  gradually  replaced  it  by  His  "  light 
burden."  They,  too,  had  their  sensible  proofs, — the  felt 
happiness  of  their  internal  convictions.  "When  Paul  de- 
clares that  "  the  godly  suffer  persecution,"  he  also  declares 
that  out  of  all  his  persecutions  "  the  Lord  delivered  him." 
I  argue,  then,  that  the  happiness  promised  by  Christ  to  His 


336 


The  Blessedness  of  Suhmission.    [SERM.  XXII. 


servants,  is  demonstrated  from  their  contempt  of  worldly 
afflictions.  Even  in  the  very  extreme  of  their  woe,  when 
all  the  earth  seems  arrayed  against  them,  and  Satan  at  the 
rear  of  his  host,  urges  on  his  ministers  of  persecution  to 
try  the  novice  in  the  faith, — even  then  their  struggling 
cries  are  hushed,  and  the  feebleness  of  human  nature  is 
supported  by  the  conscious  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
And  then,  "  behold,  a  new  heaven,  and  a  new  earth  1"  The 
things  of  this  world  gradually  faint  off  into  shadows,  and 
the  magnificent  realities  of  eternity  present  themselves  in 
bolder  relief  and  prominence.  The  new  believer  (not 
always  indeed, — for  while  "  in  this  tabernacle,  we  groan 
being  burdened." — but  oftentimes  in  his  earthly  experience) 
is  introduced  "  to  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  the 
innumerable  company  of  angels,"  and  to  the  rest  of  that 
bright  assemblage, — all  ending  however  with  "Jesus,  the 
Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant,"  with  Him  who  is  the 
beginning  and  end  of  the  believer's  hope.  It  is  at  such 
hours — hours  which  we  might  all  possess  if  we  but  labored 
by  prayer  and  meditation  and  separation  from  the  world  to 
attain  them — that  the  child  of  God  feels  indeed  that  "  the 
yoke  is  easy,  and  the  burden  light :" — or,  so  to  speak,  that 
all  which,  in  one  sense  of  the  term,  can  be  called  "  a  hurden^'' 
has  passed  away,  and  wings  are  given  to  the  spirit  to  bear 
it  for  ever  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  Divine  Presence,  till  at 
length,  passing  through  the  gate  of  death,  it  finds  itself  in 
the  ineffable  enjoyment  of  infinite  perfection. 

And  is  such  happiness  as  this  the  fiction  of  our  hopes,is  it 
only  an  illusive  exaggeration?  If  you  will  hot  believe 
my  words  or  my  arguments,  if  you  will  not  credit  the  ex- 
ulting confessions  of  the  saints  of  God  in  all  times  and 
countries,  credit  the  declarations  of  Jesus  Himself.  Is  it 
not  said  of  Him  that  "  He  is  to  guide  our  feet  into  the  way 
of  peace"  ?  (Luke  i.  79,)  while  the  burden  of  the  song  with 
which  the  heavenly  host  greeted  His  advent  on  earth  was, 
"on  earth,  peace!"    And  the  declaration  which  I  have 


SERM.  XXII.]    The  Blessedness  of  Submission.  337 

selected  for  our  meditation  this  evening  does  not  stand 
alone  in  tlie  discourses  of  our  Divine  Friend.  "  My  peace 
I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  you,"  was,  as  you  well 
know,  His  final  bequest  to  His  disciples ;  while  also  He 
declares  in  words  that  in  a  small  compass  contain  all  which 
I  have  been  saying,  "  that  in  Me  ye  might  have  peace.  In 
the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation."  He  casts  no  disguise 
over  the  roughness  of  the  path  we  are  to  tread.  He  warns 
us  of  the  hostility,  but  He  promises  also  the  victory.  "  Be 
of  good  cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world."  When  Jesus 
passed  away,  the  apostles  took  up  the  same  song  of  peace. 
"To  be  spiritually  minded,"  says  St  Paul,  "is  life  and 
peace."  But  higher  gifts  than  even  this  calmness  of  spirit 
are  promised  to  the  believing  Christian.  Joy,  surpassing 
and  abounding  joy,  is  made  his  inheritance.  And  Christ 
Himself  is  our  surety.  "  These  things,"  says  He,  "  have  I 
spoken  to  you  that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you,  and  that 
your  joy  might  be  full."  "Your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and 
your  joy  no  man  taketh  from  you."  And  the  gift  of  joy 
is  made  the  whole  object  of  this  revelation  of  beneficence: 
"These  things  I  speak  in  the  world,  that  they  might  have 
My  joy  fulfilled  in  themselves."  After  such  testimonies 
from  the  fountain  of  all  truth,  it  is  unnecessary  to  have 
recourse  to  those  streams  that  issued  from  His  Spirit.  If 
St  Paul  prays,  he  tells  us  that  he  "  makes  request  with 
joy:"  if  he  purposes  to  tarry  with  his  dear  disciples  at 
Philippi,  he  tells  them  that  it  is  for  their  furtherance  and 
'■^joy  of  faith."  And  finally,  when  he  would  in  one  sentence 
sum  up  the  characteristics  of  that  state  of  being  where  God 
is  set  upon  the  throne  of  the  heart,  he  tells  us  that  "the 
kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

Now,  brethren,  upon  all  these  scriptural  testimonies, 
this  bright  heap  of  divine  promises  and  intimations,  I  will 
ask  you  but  one  simple  question.    Can  you  believe  that 
any  state  which  the  nominal  Christianity  of  our  day  attains 
VOL.  II. — 29 


338 


The  Blessedness  of  Submission.     [SERM.  XXII. 


to,  can  be  considered  to  realize  such,  descriptions  as  these  ? 
Suppose  an  inhabitant  of  another  world,  some  one  of  those 
angelic  essences,  if  such  there  be,  whose  knowledge  has 
not  yet  reached  the  history  of  our  earth,  were  to  descend 
among  us,  and  anxious  to  find  here  below  some  society 
that  might  remind  him  of,  or  compensate  him  for,  the 
glorious  company  of  his  brother  spirits,  were  to  take  up 
the  Scriptures  of  Christ  in  order  to  make  it  his  guide-book 
in  the  search  of  such  a  community.  Would  he  discover 
the  object  of  his  inquiries?  Does  there  exist  a  group  of 
believers  among  us  which  could  stand  as  the  original  of 
that  picture  ?  Where  is  the  ardent  faith,  and  the  relying 
hope,  and  the  all-grasping  charity  ?  Where  is  the  "  peace 
and  joy  in  believing," — the  conviction  expressed  by  every 
word  and  action  tha,t  the  "yoke"  of  Christ  is  indeed 
"  easy,"  and  his  "  burden  light  ?"  Christians !  if  we  could 
not  stand  such  an  examination  from  even  an  angel,  from  a 
hrother  in  creation,  how  shall  we  stand  before  Him  whom 
"  the  angels  of  God  worship  ?"  May  His  divine  mercy 
befriend  us  in  the  terrible  day  of  His  judgment !  May  He 
be  the  friend  of  those  who  are  their  own  worst  enemies! 


SERMON  XXIII. 


THE  HOLT  TRINITY. 
(Trinity  Sunday,  May  21,  1S37.) 
And  the  Word  was  God — John  i.  1. 

In  calling  your  attention  to  the  great  doctrine  of  this 
day,  my  Brethren,  I  have  selected,  from  among  the  host  of 
passages  which  either  directly  or  by  necessary  implication 
assert  the  proper  Godhead  of  Christ,  this  peculiar  and  well- 
known  affirmation,  because  it  seems  to  me  to  be  distin- 
guished from  them  all  by  one  especial  character  which 
confers  upon  it  an  incalculable  force  in  fortifying  and  conso- 
lidating our  belief  in  the  doctrine  which  it  is  by  the  uni- 
versal Church  adduced  to  uphold.  I  do  not  so  much  refer 
to  the  fact  (though  that  is  important)  that  it  has  been  sin- 
gularly preserved  from  the  assaults  of  rash  verbal  critic- 
ism, scarcely  any  of  those  sectarian  commentators  who  are 
most  interested  to  impugn  its  genuineness,  and  who  assur- 
edly have  shown  no  disposition  to  tamper  with  the  parallel 
texts,  having  ventured  to  question  its  reality  as  a  portion 
of  Divine  revelation ;  and  the  attempts  of  those  who  have 
ventured  to  do  so,  being  now  almost  wholly  rejected  by 
even  their  own  party,  I  do  not  refer  to  this  distinction  so 
happily  characterizing  this  passage,  because  to  fully  estab- 
lish it  as  a  distinction  would  require  a  sort  and  extent  of 
discussion  not  calculated  for  the  present  occasion ;  and  be- 


340 


The  Hohj  Trinity. 


[SERM.  XXIII. 


cause  the  other  peculiarity  to  which  I  allude  is,  as  I  con- 
ceive, even  more  persuasive  to  the  minds  of  candid  and 
rational  thinkers.  That  peculiarity  is, — that  the  form  in 
which  these  words  are  couched  is  a  form  which  above  all 
others  precludes  every  possibility  of  explaining  them  away 
by  any  resources  of  metaphorical  or  symbolical  language. 
They  are  part  of  a  Creed,  a  creed  uttered  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  through  the  lips  of  the  greatest  of  evangelists.  It  is  im- 
possible for  any  impartial  man,  opening  upon  this  part  of 
the  New  Testament,  not  at  once  to  feel  how  enormous  is 
the  force  derived  from  the  place,  the  occasion,  and  the 
manner,  in  which  these  words  are  spoken.  By  this  I  mean 
to  say,  that  whereas  in  any  part  of  the  Scriptures  they 
would  have  indeed  been  words  of  weight,  and  adequate  to 
prove  the  point  they  involve,  in  this  particular  position 
and  form,  they  become  absolutely  insuperable.  The  open- 
ing verses  of  the  Gospel  of  St  John  are  (as  I  have  inti- 
mated) nothing  less  than  a  Creed ;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  a 
series  of  doctrinal  propositions  altogether  detached  from 
any  historical  or  circumstantial  connection,  resting  upon 
the  authority  of  the  proposer,  and  to  be  received  with  the 
measure  of  faith  (whatever  it  be)  due  to  that  authority. 
Of  such  a  composition  straightforward  simplicity  is  ihe 
first  and  most  essential  attribute.  Figurative  language  and 
the  colorings  of  imagery  have  here  no  place.  Nor  can  its 
expressions  be  explained  away  by  references  to  contexts 
and  connections :  other  passages  derive  their  force  from 
their  context,  this  derives  its  force  from  having  no  context. 
It  is  a  naked,  unmitigated,  unqualified  statement;  it  con- 
descends to  no  parley  with  our  petty  and  restricted  human 
conceptions;  it  sternly  calls  for  obedience,  and  simply  de- 
claiming the  fact  leaves  us  to  dispute  ihe  manner.  Had 
Christ,  in  any  of  His  casual  discourses,  let  fall  such  a 
declaration  as  this,  we  might,  however  unreasonably,  have 
ventured  upon  glosses  and  qualification  to  escape  its  as- 
tounding import.    We  might  have  said  that  He  spoke  a 


SERM.  XXIII.]  The  Holy  Trinity.  841 

parable,  that  He  was  furnishing  a  partial  knowledge  to  His 
disciples  which  the  Spiritual  Enliglitener  was  afterwards  to 
enlarge  and  complete,  that  He  addressed  Himself  (as  we 
know  was  His  wont)  to  the  passing  occasion,  and  used 
words  stronger  than  His  meaning  in  order  to  strengthen 
the  meaning  He  intended:  all  this  might  have  been  said, 
and  though  it  would  have  been  said  without  truth,  would 
at  least  have  been  said  with  plausibility.  But  here  there 
is  no  room  for  evasions  like  these.  The  words  stand 
alone,  and  if  it  be  beyond  our  imagination  to  give  thera 
a  higher  than  their  literal  meaning,  it  is  against  our  reason 
to  give  them  a  lower.  When  St  John  was  writing  these 
momentous  syllables,  he  had  no  business  to  speak  in 
parables.  Parables  are  for  infants  in  this  truth,  plain 
speech  for  men.  "The  time  cometh,"  says  our  Lord  in 
His  last  discourse,  "  when  I  shall  no  more  speak  unto  you 
in  proverbs,  but  I  shall  show  unto  you  'plainly  of  the  Father." 
And  if  ever  there  was  a  time  when  this  plainness  of 
speech  was  required  in  the  first  legislators  of  the  Church, 
it  was  pre-eminently  at  the  period  when  St  John  wrote 
these  words.  He  sat  down  to  close  the  whole  canon  of 
Scripture ;  to  terminate  in  a  full  display  of  the  abundant 
glories  of  the  great  "Sun  of  righteousness"  that  long 
pathway  of  light  which  beginning  with  Moses  had  extend- 
ed for  so  many  years — growing  in  glory  as  it  approached 
its  source — across  the  dark  waters  of  this  world's  history. 
Was  this  the  period  for  concealment  or  enigma  ?  or  shall 
we  ascribe  to  St  John  the  Evangelist  the  obscurity  which 
his  mysterious  subject  obliges  us  to  ascribe  to  St  John  the 
Prophet  ?  Was  this  the  time  when  the  Spirit  of  God  would 
perplex  the  Church  with  a  double  sense ;  and  bequeath  it 
as  its  formulary  of  faith  a  mass  of  metaphors  and  uncer- 
tainties? But  more  than  this: — at  the  time  when  the  pen 
of  the  great  Evangelist  was  imprinting  this  mighty  inscrip- 
tion upon  the  forehead  of  the  rising  Church,  he  arose  to 
discharge  the  office  in  the  very  midst  of  unbelief.  Tnspi- 

29* 


342 


The  Jlohj  Trinity.  [SERM.  XXIII. 


ration  arose  to  counteract  and  condemn  actual  and  active 
heresy.  When  St  John,  then,  wrote  those  deep  and  awful 
words,  he  wrote  them  as  the  last  inspired  revealer  of  God's 
truth  on  earth;  he  wrote  them  as  a  watchword  for  the 
Church  he  loved,  a  formal  depository  of  its  final  belief; 
he  wrote  them  in  the  midst  of  an  audacious  heresy  that 
questioned  his  authority  and  doubted  his  doctrine  upon 
this  individual  topic ;  he  wrote  them,  it  may  well  be  sup- 
posed, with  a  clear  perception  (for  to  him  beyond  all  other 
of  the  followers  of  our  Lord  was  it  given  to  know  the 
future)  that  they  were  to  be  for  ages  the  source  and  spring 
of  the  Church's  hope : — under  these  circumstances  he  com- 
posed his  creed, — under  these  circumstances  he  wrote  that 
"  the  Word  was  God."  Can  you  then  disbelieve  the  Deity 
of  the  Word  and  not  disbelieve  St  John  ?  Can  you  disbe- 
lieve St  John,  and  believe  the  Christ  that  he  described,  or 
the  Spirit  that  inspired  him  ?  Without  simulating  a  con- 
viction which  I  do  not  feel,  or  exaggerating  to  suit  a  pur- 
pose, I  may  sincerely  say  that  if  not  another  passage  in  the 
Sacred  Revelations  confessed  the  Divine  essence  of  our 
blessed  Saviour,  if  by  no  implication,  or  inference  it  were 
elsewhere  involved  or  concluded,  I  would  feel  myself 
bound,  if  once  satisfied  that  the  Spirit  spoke  these  tuords,  to 
bow* before  the  cloud  that  covers  the  mercy-seat  of  God  in 
his  earthly  manifestations,  to  acknowledge  that  these 
things  were  too  hard  for  me  to  analyze  as  matter  of 
science,  but  not  too  hard  to  believe  as  matter  of  faith, — 
and  to  admit  that, — while  at  best  we  know  not  what  God  is 
but  what  he  does,  and  while  we  know  that  Christ  has  done 
all  that  might  beseem  an  incarnate  God,  we  may  fully  be- 
lieve that  lie  was  indeed  the  God  He  resembled ;— that 
comparing  the  God  whose  goodness  was  manifested  in 
Christ,  with  Christ  Himself,  we  detect  a  similarity  that  may 
well  be  identily. 

And  now,  as  I  hope  it  would  be  very  unnecessary  for 
me  in  addressing  my  present  hearers,  to  prolong  to  any 


SEKM.  XXIII.] 


The  Eoly  Trinity. 


343 


minute  detail,  the  direct  scriptural  arguments  for  this  car- 
dinal doctrine  of  our  belief,  I  will  beg  of  you  to  accompany 
me  into  a  few  brief  reflections  upon  tlie  nature  of  the  pre- 
judice that  exists  against  it.  I  waive  all  more  particular 
objections,  and  allude  to  that  which,  in  truth,  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  them  all,  the  prejudice  against  the  Trinity  as  an 
incompreliensihle  mystery,  or  what  is  nearly  as  deplorable, 
the  reception  of  it  as  a  dogma  which  violates  every  princi- 
ple of  reason,  and  can  only  be  accepted  by  a  blind  un- 
reasoning faith.  It  is  the  more  necessary  to  resist  this 
unfortunate  prepossession,  because  (as  I  am  persuaded,  and 
as  I  know  indeed  by  experience)  there  are  many  fair- 
minded  thinkers  who  sometimes  find  themselves  equally 
unable  to  refuse  the  scriptural  attestations  and  to  accept 
the  doctrine  attested.  That  the  difficulty  arises  solely  from 
a  total  misconception  of  the  manner  in  which  the  doctrine 
should  he  apprehended  by  the  mind  I  have  no  doubt ;  and  if 
there  be  a  single  person  present — and  I  have  known  few 
large  assemblies  of  Christians  in  which  such  mistakes  have 
not  been  more  or  less  afloat — who  has  ever  felt  the  access 
of  these  perplexities,  and  has  honestly  wished  to  bring  his 
mind  to  a  more  perfect  coincidence  with  what  he  saw  to  be 
the  true  scriptural  revelation,  by  liberating  it  from  these 
vexatious  incursions  of  unbelief,  I  beseech  his  attention  for 
a  very  short  discussion  of  the  true  attitude  in  which  the 
mind  should  place  itself  to  receive  duly  the  doctrine  that 
"  there  are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Father, 
the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost;"  and  that  "  these  three  are 
One."  The  prejudice  which  I  am  regarding  is  counte- 
nanced by  an  error  to  which  I  have  just  now  alluded,  not 
at  all  uncommon  in  our  own  Church ;  and  it  is  this  latter 
which  I  am  chiefly  solicitous  to  resist,  because  it  presents 
itself  not  in  the  garb  of  determined  infidelity,  but  in  the 
more  seductive  guise  of  superlative  humility  and  all- 
absorbing  devotion. 

It  is  often  said,  then,  that  this  great  doctrine  of  the 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


[SERM.  XXIII. 


Trinity  in  unity  wliicli  our  Churcli  maintains  in  common 
Avitli  a  vast  majority  of  the  Churcli  of  Christ  in  all  ages,  is 
as  a  mystery  set  forth  by  the  God  of  revelation  in  opposi- 
tion to  our  reason, — in  such  a  sense  as  that  a  violence  of 
some  kind  or  other  must  be  done  to  the  reason  by  the  re- 
cipient of  the  doctrine;  and  that  the  true  victory  of  faith  is 
perfected  in  this  conquest  which  it  thus  effects  over  the 
prejudices  which  our  corrupted  human  nature  is  constantly 
generating  in  opposition  to  it.  The  glory  of  the  believing 
man  is  thus  made  to  consist  in  the  prostration  of  the  rea- 
soning man ;  and  the  highest  triumph  of  the  principle  of 
faith  to  be  accomplished  in  the  lowest  humiliation  of  the 
principle  of  reason.  As  I  believe  this  view  of  our  Christian 
mj'stcries  (which  you  will  find  to  have  been  held,  unfortu- 
nately, by  some  men  of  the  highest  and  purest  minds)  to  be 
founded  upon  a  most  melancholy  misunderstanding  of  the 
whole  constitution  of  our  nature, — and  as  nothing  is  more 
frequently  circulated  (in  a  form,  to  be  sure,  more  or  less 
definite)  in  religious  society,  you  will  not,  I  think,  misspend 
a  few  minutes  in  obviating  it,  and  placing  in  your  own 
minds  our  high  and  noble  belief  in  the  Trinitarian  theology 
upon  its  proper  basis. 

The  simplest  way  of  contravening  the  error  is  to  state  the 
truth  which  its  upholders  imperfectly  saw,  and  the  distorted 
image  of  which  is  the  error  they  taught  and  teach.  The 
doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in  Unity  does  not,  in  any  sense  or 
in  any  degree  whatever,  propose  itself  in  opposition  to  our 
reason,  or  require  its  renunciation  ;  but  it  does  oppose  all 
the  possible  exercises  of  the  imagination^  and  does  require 
the  total  renunciation  of  all  impressions  derivable  from  that 
faculty.  It  is  the  confusion  of  these  very  distinct  parts  of 
our  nature  in  which  the  error  of  these  reasoners  consists  ; 
they  perceive,  plainly  enough,  that  sense  or  imagination, 
wholly  conversant  as  they  are  with  our  limited  compass  of 
ideas,  are  completely  inadequate  to  reconcile  the  Unity  with 
tlie  Trinity  of  God, — that  is,  to  represent  to  themselves  a  God 


SJBRM.  XXIII.]  The  Holy  Trinity. 


345 


that  shall  at  once  possess  both  these  characters ;  and  they 
hastily  apply  to  the  reason  what  is  solely  applicable  to  the 
imagination  ; — forgetting  that  the  Unity  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture is  just  as  little  capable  of  this  sensible  representation 
as  its  Trinity  in  Unity,  and  that,  in  fact,  the  only  mode  in 
"which  such  an  Essence  could  at  all  approach  itself  to  the 
imagination  or  senses,  was  by  precisely  such  an  incarnation 
as  the  orthodox  theology  maintains.  But  as  to  the  reason, 
— we  defy  the  acutest  adversary  of  the  Trinitarian  doctrine, 
or  the  most  mystical  of  those  theologians  of  our  own  Church 
who  countenance  views  so  unworthy  of  rational  Christianity, 
to  show  cause  why  the  structures  of  our  reason  must  neces- 
sarily be  thrown  down  in  order  to  enthrone  this  mystery 
upon  their  ruins.  Instead  of  being  "  opposed  to  our  rea- 
son," or,  as  some  more  cautiously  express  it,  "demanding 
the  submission  of  our  reason,"  it  might  be  truly  shown 
that  the  doctrine  of  an  incarnate  Deity  is  directly  addressed 
to  our  moral  reason ;  and  fitted  for  the  appreciation  of  our 
entire  reason  in  such  a  degree  as  that  it  might  in  some  sort 
be  presumed  even  antecedently  to  any  direct  revelation  on 
the  subject.  I  say  this  advisedly,  because  I  think  that  though 
the  obscurity  of  this  vast  subject  requires  indeed  much 
caution,  the  caution  need  not  wholly  prevent  a  real  and 
perceptible  progress.  And  as  to  the  extension  of  the  fact 
of  incarnation, — that  the  Deity  involves  that  triplicity  of 
being  which  we  call  a  "  triplicity  of  persons,"  it  is  unques- 
tionably as  little  adverse  to  the  conclusions  of  reason  as  His 
Unitarian  attribute  of  single  personality.  If  we  believe  that 
the  principle  of  Deity  is  an  intelligent  principle,  we  cannot 
escape  believing  it  -personal^  and  if  we  can  attain  to  the 
belief  that  such  a  principle  can  be  personal  at  all,  we  must 
have  the  power  of  believing  (that  is,  our  reason  must  pre- 
sent no  difficulty  to  our  believing  on  proper  evidence)  that 
it  develops  itself  in  three  persons,  or  in  four  persons,  or  in 
forty  persons.  In  supposition,  there  is  no  contrariety  to 
reason ;  for  there  is  truly  no  more  difficulty  in  supposing  a 


346 


The  Rohj  Trinity.  [serm.  xxiil. 


thousand  persons  in  the  Godhead  (ignorant  as  we  are  of  its 
essence)  than  in  supposing  a  single  person.  And  hence  it 
is  that  so  many  who  set  out  with  the  vaunted  rationality  of 
Unitarianism  end  in  the  lifeless  vacancy  of  Atheism ;  they 
begin  by  denying  the  triple  personality  as  unreasonable, 
and  they  end  by  finding  (what  indeed  is  perfectly  true) 
that  the  single  personality  is  just  as  unreasonable.  In 
truth,  it  is  neither  more  nor  less  opposed  to  reason ;  both 
doctrines  are  equally  possible,  both  equally  probable,  ante- 
cedent to  all  revelation  of  the  will  and  nature  of  God  It 

is  plain  that  this  assumption  of  the  impossibility  of  the 
existence  of  personal  division  in  a  single  spiritual  essence 
arose  from  the  comparison  of  our  own  nature,  in  which 
such  a  division  seems  inconceivable :  as  if  our  nature, 
though,  formed,  indeed,  after  God's  image,  were  adequate 
to  represent  the  totality  of  the  nature  of  God.  Our  nature, 
in  its  spirituality  and  intelligence,  reflects,  indeed,  that  of 
the  Being  we  adore ;  but  it  reflects  only  one  side  of  a  figure 
whose  sides  are  infinite.  And  even  thus,  it  is  not  unworthy 
of  our  consideration,  whether  something  of  a  divisibility  of 
persons  is  not  observable  in  our  own  system  ;  for  there  are 
parts  of  our  nature  that  sometimes  act,  and  even  seem  to 
act  voluntarily,  without  the  consciousness  or  participation 
of  the  rest  of  the  mental  principle.  Let  us  not  be  misled 
in  making  such  a  comparison.  We  should  employ  them 
merely  as  feeble  illustrations  of  the  possible  compatibility 
with  experience  of  a  truth  which  is  beyond  our  experience. 
Such  a  comparison,  if  unfounded,  will  only  serve  to  estab- 
lish, more  and  more  firmly,  the  great  principle  which  I  am 
maintaining, — the  danger,  namely,  of  depending  on  imagi- 
nation or  human  experience  for  our  cordial  recejDtion  of  a 
doctrine  which  was  never  addressed  to  imagination  or  expe- 
rience ;  which  was  addressed  immediately  to  faith,  and  in- 
directly to  the  reason  on  which  our  faith  is  built ;  and  which 
itself,  tried  by  the  severest  test  of  reason,  can  never  be  shown 
to  contradict  any  one  of  its  conclusions. 


SERM.  XKIII,] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


847 


I  fear,  my  dear  friends,  that  this  kind  of  abstruse  dis- 
cussion may  have  exhausted  the  patience  of  some  of  you 
who  are  less  accustomed  to  such  investigations.  Yet  pause 
to  consider — would  you  refuse  to  expend  the  labor  which 
it  might  require  to  search  into  these  things  upon  any  one 
of  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  your  daily  life?  And  is  it  only 
in  the  pursuit  of  clear  and  solid  principles  of  belief  in  the 
things  that  are  to  give  a  color  to  your  immortality  that 
your  patience  begins  to  flag  ?  Is  the  acuteness  that  detects 
every  turn  of  the  chances  in  a  bargain  of  worldly  gain  at 
fault — dulled  and  incapable — when  the  great  question  of 
profit  and  loss  is  proposed ;  a  question  whose  slightest  con- 
cerns ought  surely  to  outweigh  in  your  estimate  the  wealth 
of  empires?  Believe  me,  we  have,  most  of  us,  under- 
standing enough  for  these  matters  if  we  had  will  to  employ 
it;  the  engine  is  given  us  to  work  by  the  Great  Mechanist : 
but  we  are  often  too  indolent  to  supply  the  moving-power, 
and  the  noble  machinery  is  thrown  aside  like  useless  lum- 
ber! 

But  it  is  indeed  true  that  the  melioration  of  the  heart  is 
still  the  great  and  leading  object  to  which  all  others  are 
subordinate!  and  I  could  be  well  satisfied  that  such  reason- 
ings as  these  were  never  to  occupy  your  intellects  if  their 
practical  consequences  occupied  your  feelings.  It  is  the 
fervent  ardors  of  the  heart  that  best  illuminate  the  mind. 
"  What  profits  it,"  says  a  very  great  saint  in  treating  of  the 
very  subject  of  our  thoughts  this  day,  "what  profits  it  that 
we  should  discourse  with  subtlety  about  the  Trinity  if  we 
live  so  as  to  displease  the  Trinity?"  A  double  measure  of 
vengeance  is  reserved  for  him  who  knows  his  Master's  will 
and  performs  it  not ! 

And  surely,  brethren,  to  awake  every  feeling  that  can 
animate  human  breasts  with  piety,  it  is  unnecessary  to  go 
beyond  this  mighty  doctrine,  which  encompasses  all  Chris- 
tianity, and  bears  within  it  the  whole  field  of  devotional 
contemplation  and  spiritual  affections.    In  meditating  upon 


348 


The  Eohj  Trinity. 


[SEBM.  XXIll. 


the  Three  Glorious  Personages  who  are  the  agents  in  the 
management  of  our  salvation,  we  contemplate  the  whole 
magnificent  work  which  they,  of  their  Sovereign  Goodness 
and  Wisdom  and  Power,  have  agreed  to  accomplish.  We 
behold  with  the  eye  of  reason  that  unveiled  Paternal  God- 
head whom  with  the  corporeal  eye  "no  man  hath  seen  at 
any  time" — willing  the  wondrous  Sacrifice  which  was  to 
purify  us  in  his  pure  sight ; — we  behold  and  hear  the  Eter- 
nal Son,  who  rose  from  the  bosom  of  Ilis  Father  to  declare 
"  Lo,  I  come  (in  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  mc) 
to  do  Thy  will,  0  God;" — and  we  recognize  by  His  omni- 
present efficacy  that  Blessed  Spirit  who  superintended  and 
animated  the  entire  machinery  of  redemption.  So  that 
God,  descending  thus  to  man,  becomes  no  longer  an  inope- 
rative abstraction,  but  the  living  and  felt  Companion  of  our 
souls.  Till  then,  the  Godhead  was  like  that  imperceptible 
heat  which  animates  the  universe,  an  Agent  energetic 
indeed  and  all-pervading,  but  unseen.  In  the  Son  He 
assumes  a  direct  and,  as  it  were,  a  tangible  form — the  Heat 
condenses  into  Fire.  And  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  same 
Divine  Essence  issues  forth  in  Light, — a  Light  consummate 
which  cheers  our  spiritual  sense,  but  which  still  is  insepa- 
rable from  the  flame  it  accompanies.  All  are  united  and 
all  distinct.  Such  is  the  comprehensive  doctrine  you  are 
this  day  summoned  to  consider.  We  have  no  day  appro- 
priated in  our  Calendar  to  the  Father  of  heaven — our  year, 
nay,  our  life,  is  His  day !  We  have  days  appointed  to  the 
distinctive  commemoration  of  the  achievements  of  the  Son 
in  our  behalf;  not  indeed  that  we  should  not  perpetually 
consecrate  ourselves  to  Him  also,  that  is,  to  the  Father 
through  Him, — but  because  it  assists  the  feeble  grasp  of 
our  nature  to  apportion  times  and  seasons,  and  his  varied 
history  on  earth  admits  of  such  partial  and  detached  con- 
templation. And  we  have  a  day  which  we  devote  to  grati- 
tude to  that  Holy  Spirit  who  gave  Himself  liberally  to  the 
first  establishers  of  our  faith,  and  still  is  present  to  those 


SEBM.  XXIII.] 


The  Holy  Trinity. 


849 


who  ask  Him.  But  on  this  day  all  are  blended  into  one 
mysterious  harmony ;  on  this  day  the  separate  holinesses 
of  the  year  combine  into  one  transcendent  union ;  the  dis- 
persed sanctities  of  the  seasons  meet  and  mingle  to-day. 
May  the  God  who  in  the  highest  heavens  unites  in  His  Own 
ineffable  nature  the  Paternal,  Filial,  and  Spiritual  charac- 
ters, unite  us  also  to  Himself  in  like  manner!  May  that 
Essence  which  is  at  once  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  fulfil  upon  us  the  prayer  which  the  Divine  Jesus, 
the  incarnate  Son  when  a  pilgrim  upon  earth  uttered  in 
our  behalf  to  His  Father, — "  that  they  all  may  be  one ;  as 
thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee, — that  they  also  may 
be  one  in  us . . .  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one ; 
I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect 
in  onef 


VOL.  II.— SO 


SERMON  XXIV. 


WATCHMAlSr,  WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

College  Chapel,  Friday,  May,  31,  1839. 

He  calleth  to  me  out  of  Seir,  Watchman,  what  of  the  night?  watchman,  what 
of  the  night?  The  watchman  saiJ,  The  morning  cometh,  and  also  the  night : 
if  ye  will  inquire,  inquire  ye  :  return,  come. — Isaiah  xxi.  11,  12. 

This  singular  passage  has,  in  its  primary  purpose  and 
application,  furnished  material  for  very  important  an  inter- 
esting investigation.  To  this,  however,  as  scarcely  appro- 
priate to  the  present  occasion,  I  will  not  now  undertake  to 
direct  your  attention ;  preferring  rather  to  invite  you  to 
contemplate  the  wider  moral  significancy  which  is  contained 
in  the  words.  This  wider  significancy  was  probably  in- 
tended by  the  prophet  himself,  or  by  the  Spirit  which  spoke 
through  his  instrumentality; — it  is  this  very  doubleness  of 
application  which  renders  these  writings  so  invaluable  not 
only  as  evidences  of  our  faith,  but  as  lessons  to  our  hearts ; 
it  is  this  pregnancy  of  meaning  which  makes  them  calcu- 
lated not  only  for  "correction  and  reproof"  of  the  gainsayer 
of  our  hope  in  Christ,  but  for  "  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness" to  ourselves  who  profess  it! 

Let  us  then  speak  first  briefly  of  this  inward  or  second- 
ary meaning  of  the  "Word  of  prophecy  in  general ;  and 
afterwards  offer  a  few  hints  towards  a  practical  application 
of  this  inward  meaning  in  the  peculiar  passage  before  us. 


SERM.  XXIV.]     Watchman,  what  of  the  night? 


351 


The  whole  Bible- — both  the  Old  Covenant,  witb  its 
histories,  its  hymns,  and  its  prophecies ;  and  the  New,  with 
its  narratives,  its  epistles  of  apostolic  instruction,  and  its 
single  momentous  book  of  prophecy — has  as  its  common 
and  pervading  argument  one  mighty  subject,  which  appear- 
ing under  a  thousand  different  forms,  is  substantially  the 
same  in  every  page  of  the  sacred  Volume;  That  subject 
is — the  salvation  appointed  for  the  chosen  of  mankind,  and 
the  ruin  decreed  for  those  who  reject  the  offer.  But  this 
great  revelation  of  happiness  and  misery  is  differently  made 
according  to  the  difference  of  times  and  seasons.  The  Per- 
sonage who  makes  it,  who  in  each  dispensation  comes  in 
contact  with  man — however  he  may  subsequently  commit 
the  subordinate  functions  of  teaching  to  his  servants — is  no 
other  than  God  Himself: — a  strong  presumption  (I  may 
observe)  for  the  Divinity  of  the  Prophet  and  Legislator  of 
the  New  Testament.  In  the  earliest  age  of  the  world  the 
Eevelation  was  given  ly  God  in  2)erson,  speaking  to  man 
without  the  intervention  of  any  prophetical  emissary,  under 
some  undescribed  visible  appearance.  After  the  fall,  it  was 
probably  left  to  the  safe  keeping  of  tradition,  which,  con- 
sidering the  longevity  of  mankind  in  these  times,  was, 
doubtless,  a  sufficiently  secure  depositary.  When  at,  and 
after,  the  deluge  God  was  willing  once  more  to  save  or  to 
collect  a  people  from  the  general  mass  of  corruption.  He 
again  revealed  His  will,  and  the  Lord,  or  the  "Angel  of  the 
Lord^'' — no  other  than  God — manifested  Himself  to  the 
patriarchs,  and,  though  obscurely,  promised  a  wondrous 
future: — and  not  only  a  temporal  but  an  eternal  and  invis- 
ible future, — for  "the  fathers  looked  not  for  transitory 
promises." ...  In  due  time,  the  third  series  of  revelation  was 
delivered  by  one  who  declared  of  Himself,  "I  am  the  Lord 
thy  God,"  and  who  constantly  uttered  His  own  high  Will 
personally  to  the  people  of  Israel  under  the  title  of  The 
Lord.. .  And  when  "the  ends  of  the  world" — the  last  section 
of  the  Divine  dispensations,  had  arrived,  the  fourth  series 


352 


Watchman,  tchat  of  the  night?    [SERM.  XXIV. 


of  revclatiou  was  opened,  prosecuted,  and  concluded,  by 
the  same  Divine  Being  in  the  person  of  Christ  Jesus,  in 
whom  God  (according  to  the  analogy  of  Ills  preceding 
manifestations,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  in  a  way  more 
perfect  than  any  of  them)  once  more  exhibited  Himself  to 
man — leaving  Ilis  Apostles,  as  he  had  before  left  Ilis 
Prophets,  to  expand  and  enforce  His  Personal  Teaching. 

Thus  was  the  Revcaler  of  God's  Will  ever  the  same, — 
ever  God  Himself.  The  substance  of  the  Revelation  was 
also  (since  the  Fall)  unchanged  ;  but  its  form  and  character 
were  perpetually  varied.  The  former  was  stable  as  the 
purpose  of  Godj  the  latter  suited  to,  and  dependent  on,  the 
circumstances  of  man.  It  is  even  as  the  Sun  himself  (so 
often  made  the  emblem  of  God)  is  ever  one  and  the  same; 
but  the  effects  He  produces  vary  with  our  varying  posi- 
tion;— being  at  one  time  morning,  at  another  noon,  at 
another  eve.  The  God  of  the  patriarchs,  of  Moses,  of  the 
Gospel — is  one  immutable  essence,  His  purpose  unaltera- 
ble ;  but  He  varies  in  the  revealings  of  His  light  because 
we  ourselves  vary  in  our  relative  positions  and  capacities 
for  receiving  it.. .Hence  we  may  expect  the  ultimate  object 
to  be  never  forgotten  in  the  temporary  one ;  and  though 
the  Master  may  instruct  and  threaten  by  occasional  ex- 
amples, yet  that  these  very  examples  of  His  direct  agency, 
being  guided  by  the  same  principles  of  government,  ad- 
justed after  the  same  laws,  and  pointed  with  similar  views, 
as  His  master  counsels,  should  present,  as  it  were,  a  minia- 
ture of  them,  and  serve  to  instruct  us,  on  the  little  stage  of 
this  world,  in  the  far-reaching  decrees  of  eternity.  Un- 
less God  be  at  variance  with  Himself,  we  can  reasonably 
anticipate  no  other  result,  than  that  His  temporal  judg- 
ments and  temporal  pardons  should  be  a  picture-language 
expressive  of  His  eternal :  the  scale  indeed  widely  different, 
but  the  proportions  the  same. 

And  therefore,  when  the  prophetic  Scriptures  publish  to 
us  promises  of  peace  and  denunciations  of  woe,  let  us 


SEEM.  XXIV.]      Watchman,  what  of  the  night? 


853 


•never  deem  that  the  Divine  Spirit  had  no  ulterior  purpose 
in  these  predictions.  Let  us  never  cast  aside  the  volume 
and  cry — that  we  are  not  Edom,  or  Egypt,  or  Babylon,  or 
Tyre :  and  that  therefore  we  have  nothing  to  do  either  with 
their  crimes  or  their  punishment.  Let  us  not  vainly  dream 
that  the  mighty  machinery  of  the  prophetic  messages  was 
put  into  play  merely  to  call  down  curses  on  a  few  of  the 
temporary  dynasties  of  this  perishable  world !  "  All  Scrip- 
ture was  written  for  our  use,"  and  these  "  springing  and  ger- 
minant  prophecies"  (as  they  have  been  called)  have  a  signifi- 
cancy  beyond  the  revolutions  of  petty  kingdoms.  They 
represent  in  majestic  order  and  manifest  type  the  great 
truths  of  eternal  salvation  and  eternal  ruin;  they  exhibit  in 
the  sensible  language  of  exterior  imagery  what  the  great 
Teacher  of  after  times  gave  in  the  higher  language  of 
spiritual  truth.  If  the  laws  of  God  be  uniform  and  un- 
changeable, we  are  justified  in  reading  by  this  light  from 
heaven  the  prophetic  declarations  of  the  course  and  the 
principles  of  his  earthly  providences! 

With  such  views  as  these  elevating  our  thoughts  beyond 
the  details  of  perished  empires  into  the  mightier  truths  of 
the  eternal  empire  of  our  God,  let  us  reflect  briefly  upon 
the  words  before  us.  Their  precise  purport  has  been  con- 
troverted. Without  entering  on  minute  discussions  I  shall 
adopt  that  which  seems  to  me  the  most  probable. 

The  Prophet  appears  to  introduce  himself  as  addressed 
in  scorn  by  the  people  of  the  land  which  he  is  commis- 
sioned to  warn.  "  Watchman,  what  of  the  night?"  What 
new  report  of  woe  hast  thou  to  unroll, — thou  who  hast 
placed  thyself  as  an  authorized  observer  and  censurer  of 
our  doings?  But  the  prophetical  watchman — the  calm 
commissioner  of  heaven — replies,  adopting  their  own  lan- 
guage, "  Yes,  the  morning  (the  true  morning  of  hope  and 
peace)  cometh,  and  also  the  night  (the  real  and  terrible 
night  of  God's  vengeance);  if  ye  will  (if  ye  are  in  genuine 
earnest  to)  inquire,  inquire !    Return,  come."    Obtain  the 

30* 


354 


Watchman^  what  of  the  night?    [SERM.  XXIV. 


knowledge  you  seek,  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  life ; 
and,  acting  on  this  knowledge,  repent  and  return  to  the 
Lord  your  God. 

Regard,  then,  the  guilty  Edom  tliat  is  warned ;  and  the 
office  and  answer  of  the  watchman  who  warns  it, 

I  cannot  now  command  the  time  which  would  be  neces- 
sary in  order  to  sketch  the  vastness  and  variety  of  the  lost 
Edom  of  this  rebellious  world,  extending  as  it  does  through 
all  ranks  and  divisions  of  men ;  from  the  beginnings  of 
sin  to  the  last  abandonment  of  the  desperately  profligate. 
I  am  not  now  to  undertake  to  count  over  the  array  of  those 
who  address  the  spiritual  watchmen  of  tlie  Church  of  Christ 
in  tones  of  derision,  and  mock  their  ministry.  Yet,  if  we 
reflect  a  moment,  we  may  perhaps  without  difficulty  call 
to  mind  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  of  the  many  classes 
who  thus  (directly  or  indirectly)  offiir  to  the  watchman  of 
their  souls  the  language  of  contempt,  or  fear,  or  indifier- 
enee;  and  ask  of  him,  "What  of  the  night?"  disregarding, 
or  despising,  or  dreading,  his  answer. 

Some  there  are  who  ask  the  report  of  "  the  night"  with, 
utter  carelessness  as  to  the  reply.  These  are  they  who  haunt 
our  churches  from  the  indolence  of  habit,  who  smilingly 
confess  themselves  "sinners"  without  once  remembering 
the  tremendous  purport  of  the  words  they  employ ;  who 
echo  the  thrilling  penitence  of  our  liturgy  in  the  same  tone 
that  inquires  the  news  of  the  day ;  who  are  Christians 
because  their  fathers  were,  and  would  without  a  murmur 
be  heathens  for  the  same  reason. 

Some  again  there  are,  who  ask  the  question  not  in  care- 
lessness but  in  contempt.  Like  the  children  of  old,  they 
come  forth  out  of  the  city  "  to  mock  the  prophet  of  the 
Lord."  These  are  the  disciples  of  fashionable  infidelity, 
who  find  it  easier  to  despise  than  to  argue ;  who  cannot 
endure  to  be  of  the  same  religion  with  the  needy  and  the 
illiterate;  and  who  coldly  pronounce  that  a  God  who  is  not 
announced  as  governing  the  world  on  the  principles  of 


SERM.  XXIV.]     Watchman^  what  of  the  night?  355 

their  experience  (a  point  of  space  and  a  moment  of  time) 
cannot  possibly  be  the  God  of  reason  and  of  truth.  It  is 
terrible  to  think,  that,  in  His  awful  retribution,  God  can 
assume  a  spirit  of  derision  like  their  own.  "  Because  ye 
have  set  at  nought  all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my 
reproof,  I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,  I  will  mock 
when  your  fear  cometh.  When  your  fear  cometh  as  deso- 
lation, and  your  destruction  cometh  as  a  whirlwind,  ...then 
shall  they  call  upon  me,  but  I  will  not  answer;  they  shall 
seek  me  early,  but  they  shall  not  find  me!" 

Some,  again,  ask  the  Watchman,  "What  of  the  night?" 
in  a  spirit  very  different  from  these,  and  perhaps  yet  more 
terrible.  They  ask  it  in  horror  and  anguish  of  heart.  The 
agonies  of  remorse  have  seized  their  spirit ;  they  can  see 
beyond  this  world  no  vista  but  an  eternity  of  pain ;  con- 
science suggests  their  reward,  and  Revelation  confirms  it. 
Filled  with  fear  of  the  terrible  hour  of  woe,  they  ask  and 
ask  again,  "What  of  the  night  ?"  How  speeds  this  gloomy 
time  of  darkness  ?  How  long  have  we  yet  to  breathe  be- 
fore the  gloomier  dawn  of  everlasting  vengeance  begins  ? 

And  many  more  could  we  particularize :  but  even  if  time 
allowed,  what  would  it  profit  ?  Every  hearer's  experience 
can  too  forcibly  remind  him  of  the  number  and  the  variety 
of  these  diversifications  of  evil.  In  every  shade  of  wicked- 
ness they  surround  us ;  in  every  tone  they  ask  advice  of 
the  watchman  of  their  souls,  and  in  every  form  they  reject 
it! 

But  what  is  still  the  duty  of  him  who  holds  the  moment- 
ous position  of  watchman  in  the  city  of  God  ?  "  O  son  of 
man,"  saith  the  Lord  to  his  servant  Ezekiel,  "  I  have  set 
thee  a  watchman  unto  the  house  of  Israel ;  therefore  thou 
shalt  hear  the  word  at  my  mouth,  and  warn  them  from 
me !"  (xxxiii.  7.)    And  in  the  same  spirit  and  language  the 

Apostle — "  Obey  them  that  rule  over  you  for  they  natch 

for  your  souls."  (Heb.  xiii.  17.)  On  the  occasion  before  us, 
remark — 1st,  He  did  not  turn  away  from  the  question,  in 


356 


Watchman,  what  of  the  night?    [SERJf.  XSIV. 


whatever  spirit  it  was  asked.  2d,  He  uttered  with  equal 
assurance  a  threat  and  a  promise.  3d,  lie  pressed  the  ne- 
cessity of  care  in  the  study,  and  earnest  inquiry  after  the 
nature,  of  the  truth ;  and,  in  the  last  place,  he  summed  up 
all  by  an.  anxious,  a  cordial,  and  a  reiterated  invitation  to 
repentance  and  reconciliation  with  an  ofiended  but  pardon- 
ing God.  Thus,  the  single  verse  might  be  regarded  as  an 
abstract  of  the  duties  of  the  ministerial  office.  May  God 
grant  to  his  ministers  a  genuine  anxiety  to  fulfil  that  oflB.ce, 
to  Ilis  people  an  equal  anxiety  to  receive  its  labors ! 

Of  the  young  whom  I  now  address  I  know  not  but,  few 
as  they  are,  more  than  one  may  be  destined  for  this  high 
function  of  turning  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
Just.  Oh,  my  friends,  if  this  be  so,  lose  no  time  in  com- 
mencing that  discipline  of  heart  and  soul  which  alone  can 
fitly  qualify  you  for  the  mightiest  office  that  man  can  hold 
on  this  side  of  the  grave  1  It  is  an  oflfice  whose  responsi- 
bilities an  archangel,  unsupported,  could  not  meet,  but  which 
the  humblest  of  the  Spirit-taught  children  of  God  may  by 
Ilim  be  made  able  to  bear  in  joy  and  triumph.  From  your 
earliest  days,  accustom  yourselves  to  feel  devoted  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  service;  be  Christ's  ministers,  in  heart  and 
practice,  from  the  first,  and  your  commission,  when  you 
receive  it,  will  find  you  streuglhcncd  for  your  calling,  and 
old  in  the  knowledge,  though  new  to  the  ministerial  service, 
of  God! 

But  whether  such  be  your  purpose  or  not,  in  one  charac- 
ter I  am  sure  to  meet  you.  You  are  immortal  and  account- 
able beings.  Believe  it,  you  cannot  too  soon  enter  upon 
the  one  business  of  life,  the  preparation  to  meet  the  Living 
God :  and  that  every  seductive  companion  who  would  blind 
your  eyes  to  this  awful  fact,  is  but  the  active  minister  of 
Satan  in  the  work  of  deceiving  souls.  Every  day  gives  its 
complexion  to  the  day  that  follows  it, — every  year  to  the 
succeeding  year, — every  stage  of  life  to  that  which  follows 
it, — life  itself  is  often  wholly  determined  by  youth,  and  life 


SERM.  XXIV.]     Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?  357 


determines  eternity !  If  this  be  so,  the  feelings,  the  resolves, 
of  this  week,  this  day,  this  hour, — may  yet  make  themselves 
felt  through  endless  ages ;  the  firm  purpose  to  learn  the 
faith  and  love  of  a  Christian,  that  rises  in  any  one  heart  here 
at  this  instant,  may  be  the  earthly  germ  of  heavenly  and 
immortal  glory.  May  God  awake  such  purposes  within 
you,  and  strengthen  them  when  awakened ;  giving  you 
power  to  overcome  the  force  of  evil  example,  and  the 
tyranny  of  evil  habit,  and  the  dread  of  standing  alone  in 
the  narrow  path  that  leadeth  to  eternal  life  ! 


SEEMON  XXV. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  FINAL  JUDGMENT. 

(Preached  iu  behalf  of  the  Association  for  the  Relief  of  distressed  Protestants,  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Dublin,  Sunday,  June  13,  1841.) 

And  the  King  shall  an,swer,  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done 
it  unto  me. — Matthew  xxv.  40. 

It  is  Christ  who  speaks  these  solemn  words  from  the 
throne  of  the  final  judgment.  Listen  to  them  with  awe! 
Hear  them  as  if  in  these  accents  you  caught  mysterious 
echoes  from  the  very  depths  of  eternity.  Within  the 
shadow  of  that  throne  of  judgment  we  all  live ;  and  the 
shadow  deepens  fast ;  for  every  hour  of  our  dream-like 
existence  is  bringing  us  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  awful 
reality.  With  a  view  to  that  terrible  scene  of  trial,  the 
whole  world  exists ;  all  the  laws  of  nature — the  succession 
of  day  and  night,  of  seasons  and  years — are  but  ministers 
to  that  hour,  speeding  its  coming,  and  preparing,  whether 
unto  weal  or  woe,  every  soul  among  us,  for  its  irrevocable 
award.  Not  Death  itself  is  more  inevitable ;  for  Death  is 
but  the  commissioned  officer  of  this  tribunal ;  he  exists 
only  that  he  may  lead  us  to  its  footstool.  Not  Heaven's 
promised  happiness  is  more  assured ;  for  this  is  the  sole 
portal  of  Heaven  to  man.  Nay,  the  very  being  of  our 
God  is  scarcely  a  more  fixed  truth  ;  for  even  His  being  is 
not  more  certain  than  His  justice,  and  His  justice  demands 


SERM.  XXV.]    The  Principles  of  the  Final  Judgment.  859 

the  judgment.  Whatever  is  uncertain,  or  undecided,  or 
controverted, this  remains  unquestionable ;  God  shall  "come 
to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,"  He  shall  be  "revealed  in 
flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  Him 
not."    To  this  all  gathers,  in  this  all  is  consummated. 

And  thus,  in  some  respects,  this  mighty  doctrine  stands 
alone  among  the  prophetic  announcements  of  scripture. 
Men  may  question  as  to  the  exact  significance  of  other  pre- 
dictions ;  they  may  question  whether  other  predictions  have 
any  direct  relation  to  themselves ;  and  in  this  combination, 
of  uncertainties  we  know  how  the  force  of  prophecy  is  too 
often  blunted  and  enfeebled.  But  here  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt  or  disputation.  The  judgment  must  be;  and  it  must 
be  personal  to  every  child  of  Adam.  The  prophecies  that 
proclaim  it  are  for  the  most  part  referable,  not  to  detached 
nations  or  tribes  of  men,  but  to  man  as  such ;  to  have  been 
born  into  this  world  is  the  sole  condition  for  being  the  sub- 
ject of  this  tremendous  dispensation.  In  the  very  being — 
the  rational  and  moral  being — that  God  has  given  us.  He 
has  inwoven  the  future  judgment ;  He  has  constructed  our 
nature  so  that  it  demands  this  award  as  its  necessary  com- 
pletion. Our  daily  life  is  one  long  prophecy  of  that  day. 
In  the  gloomy  recollections  of  age,  in  the  man  of  crime 
who  struggles  in  vain  to  crush  a  rebuking  conscience,  in 
the  youth  who  weeps  the  bitter  fruits  of  passion,  in  the 
very  child  who  runs  to  hide  his  conscious  fault — in  all  alike 
is  foreshadowed  the  terrible  decree  of  universal  judgment. 
For  judgment  we  are  born,  for  judgment  we  flourish,  grow 
old,  and  die ;  nature  herself  dares  not  deny  the  certainty  of 
retribution ;  the  Gospel  but  confirms  her  conviction ;  for 
even  in  regions  where  the  Gospel  has  never  sounded,  her 
voice  speaking  in  all  nations,  languages,  and  times,  has  pro- 
claimed from  pole  to  pole,  that  God  shall  judge  His  crea- 
ture. But  Revelation  alone  could  tell  the  circumstances 
and  accessories  of  this  great  event;  and  Revelation  has 
abundantly  done  so.    The  Judge  Himself  has  undrawn  the 


360 


The  Principles  of 


[SEBM.  XXV. 


curtain  of  Eternity ;  He  has  shown  us  His  Own  everlasting 
throne,  and  the  procedures  of  His  court,  and  the  test  He 
shall  demand,  and  the  verdict  He  shall  deliver. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  thus  to  read  the  story  of  our  own 
hereafter ;  to  hear  delivered  with  all  the  minuteness  of  some 
history  of  past  events,  a  scene  in  which  each  of  us  individu- 
ally must  perform  his  own  special  part,  and  that  part  the 
most  awful  and  decisive  in  all  eternity.  Strange,  to  see 
one  single  point  in  the  clouded  future  thus  flashing  out 
amid  the  impenetrable  obscurity  of  all  the  rest ;  and  that 
one,  the  point  on  which  all  the  rest  is  ultimately  to  depend. 
Strange  indeed ;  yet  stranger  still,  that  it  can  be  contem- 
plated with  so  little  emotion ;  that  men  can  live  admitting 
its  certainty,  yet  never  remembering  its  approach;  that, 
when  once  granted  to  be  true,  it  should  not  be  found  to 
occupy  every  thought,  and  to  make  the  great  directive 
principle  of  existence.  Great  God  !  to  think  that  thus  we 
shall  each  of  us  stand — bare  to  Thine  eye  and  to  assembled 
Heaven ;  all  that  we  hide  from  our  very  selves  made  visible 
to  the  universe ;  no  one  shred  left  to  shelter  our  secret  cor- 
ruptions, every  fold  of  hypocrisy  untwisted,  every  artifice 
of  self-deceit  exposed  and  spurned ; — to  think  that  this  is 
certain  as  that  we  are  this  day  assembled  in  this  House  of 
Prayer ;  and  that,  with  such  a  decree  thundered  in  our  ears 
from  every  page  of  the  Book  of  Truth,  we  should  live  as  we 
do, — indolent  expectants  of  some  imaginary  mercies,  of 
which  we  know  neither  the  ground  nor  the  condition ;  and 
scarcely  alive,  the  most  of  us,  to  any  real  claims  of  duty  to 
God  beyond  the  formalities  of  exterior  worship  ;  of  duty  to 
ourselves  beyond  the  suggestions  of  worldly  calculation  ;  of 
duty  to  our  brethren  beyond  the  accidental  benevolence  of 
party  spirit,  or  pride,  or  caprice  I 

At  such  an  hour  as  that  noted  in  the  passage  before  us, 
when  Jesus  Christ  Himself  proclaims  the  grounds  of  His 
judgment,  when  He  tells  us  in  a  form  of  unequalled 
solemnity,  how  He  will  personally  decide  the  question 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment. 


361 


of  man's  eternal  destination ;  we  may  surely  expect  that 
those  grounds  alone,  or  chiefly,  should  be  put  forward 
which  in  His  own  Divine  counsels  are  regarded  as  of 
highest  importance.  I  do  not  here  enter  into  any  discus- 
sion as  to  the  special  subjects  of  the  awful  decision  an- 
nounced in  this  memorable  passage.  Whether  the  scope 
of  the  words  be  universal  as  our  race,  or  (as  some  have 
thought)  more  limited,  I  cannot  now  pause  to  canvass; 
my  purpose  this  day  confines  me  to  the  principle  of  the 
whole.  It  does  so,  because  that  principle  is  elsewhere  so 
abundantly  universalized,  as  fully  to  warrant  any  practical 
conclusion  that  can  be  drawn  from  supposing  it  universal 
here.  And  it  does  so,  because  it  is  on  that  principle,  as 
understanding  and  recognizing  that  principle,  you  are  called 
upon  to  accomplish  the  office  of  charity  to  which  I  have 
now  to  invite  you.  By  no  sanction  less  than  that  of  the 
final  judgment  do  I  bind  you  to  this  office;  no  voice  less 
potent  than  that  of  Christ  Himself  shall  plead  for  these 
poor  brethren  of  His  and  yours.  I  supplicate  for  destitute 
members  of  His  body  ;  and  I  will  not  stoop  to  any  argu.- 
ment  but  that  with  which  He  has  Himself  furnished  me. 
From  His  own  eternal  throne  He  shall  preach  to  you  His 
demands  and  your  duties. 

What,  then,  are  the  principles  involved  in  the  awful 
verdict  of  the  text  ?    They  are  these : 

That  Christ  is  identified  with  His  people,  and  especially 
His  poor ;  and — 

That  they  who  love  for  His  sake  His  people,  do  implicitly 
manifest  their  love  to  Him,  and  in  that  implication  shall  be 
rewarded. 

I. — Now,  Christ  is  one  with  all  mankind  in  the  sameness 
of  a  common  nature  ;  He  is  one  with  His  sanctified  people, 
in  the  sameness  of  a  common  spirit  ;  He  is  one  with  His 
poorer  members  in  the  sameness  of  a  common  earthly 
LIFE.  Let  us  follow  these  steps  of  union  that  lead  us  closer 
and  closer  to  our  incarnate  God.  Let  us  trace  Him,  though 
VOL.  II.— 31 


362 


Tlie  Principles  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


absent,  by  these  His  images,  in  the  world  and  the  Church. 
The  nature  He  assumed,  the  grace  He  gives,  the  poverty 
He  borrowed;  these  are  the  deputies  of  Christ  in  this  life; 
these  are  commissioned  to  show  Him  forth  "until  He 
come." 

He  is  one  with  our  race  in  NATURE:  and  for  this  won- 
derful truth  there  are,  doubtless,  abundant  reasons  hidden 
in  the  counsels  of  God,  and  of  Avhich  therefore  we  can 
know  but  little,  and  can  scarcely  dare  to  conjecture.  This 
reason,  however,  is  clearly  enough  intimated  in  Scripture; 
— the  expiation  He  accomplished  could  be  fittingly  made 
only  in  the  nature  whose  guilt  was  to  be  expiated;  if  the 
immortal  Friend  of  mankind  was  indeed  to  take  upon  Him 
the  heavy  penalty  of  our  sins,  it  could  only  be  by  suffering 
as  man  for  what  man  had  done.  Hence  this  great  fact  of 
Christ's  unity  of  nature  with  the  world  He  redeemed,  is 
prominently  and  perpetually  recorded  in  the  statements  of 
His  sacrificial  work;  this  is  firmly  fixed  as  the  base  and 
bulwark  of  the  whole;  and  indeed,  in  the  texture  of  the 
Gospels,  it  is  obviously  His  manhood  which  is  emphatically 
insisted  on,  as  being  truly  the  miracle,  and  not  His  supe- 
rior nature,  which  is  continually  assumed  indirectly,  or 
referred  to  by  the  Divine  Teacher,  with  that  calm  and  lofty 
familiarity  which  marks  it  an  ancient  and  inherent  dignity. 
In  truth,  the  constant  careful  ascriptions  of  manhood — the 
very  phrase,  "the  Son  of  Man,"  chosen  as  an  exclusive 
title — are  themselves  the  most  unequivocal  proof  that  He 
who  bore  them  was  more  than  man;  for  otherwise,  where 
were  the  force  or  pertinency  of  a  designation  equally  ap- 
plicable to  every  child  of  Adam?  He  must  have  been 
more  than  man  ever  was  or  could  be,  by  whom  "  the  Son 
of  Man"  was  selected,  or  confirmed,  as  a  special,  appropri- 
ate, and  distinctive  title.  Mightier  than  man,  He  has 
become  man ;  by  voluntary  assumption  He  is  one  with  us 
in  nature ;  as  such  He  suffered  for  all,  as  such  He  can  sym- 
pathize with  all,  and  as  such  He  will  judge  all. 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment. 


363 


He  is  one  with  us  ia  grace,  a  deeper  and  yet  more 
blessed  truth.  What  Christ's  nature  has  done  for  our  justi- 
fication, Christ's  Spirit  has  done — is  doing — for  our  pro- 
gressive renewal  to  His  unclouded  image.  We  have,  as  it 
were,  given  Him  of  our  nature  the  material  of  our  re- 
demption ;  He  has  given  us  of  His  celestial  nature  the 
properties  that  are  to  qualify  for  the  heaven  He  has  won. 
In  entering  into  the  inner  courts  of  heaven  by  His  ascen- 
sion. He  has — they  are  but  two  corresponding  forms  of 
the  same  wondrous  act — mysteriously  entered  into  the 
Church,  which  is  heaven  upon  earth ;  and  thus  abiding  in 
our  hearts  becomes  the  perpetual  source  of  that  new  and 
transcendent  nature  which  alone,  He  has  told  us,  is  meet 
for  the  kingdom  He  has  founded.  Of  this  unimaginable 
mystery  Christ  is  the  substance,  but  the  Spirit  the  agent ; 
we  receive  Him,  not  in  the  deadness  of  a  corporeal  contact, 
but  in  and  by  His  Spirit ;  we  "  eat  of  His  body  and  drink 
of  His  blood,"  but  in  all  this,  "  it  is  the  Spirit  that  quick- 
eneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing."  And  thus  we  are  in  a 
manner  incorporated  into  the  mystic  bond  of  the  Trinity 
itself  by  the  indwelling  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit  of  Christ ; 
a  relation  to  which  our  Lord  Himself  seemed  to  intimate 
some  allusion,  when  He  prayed  that  "  they  all  may  be  one, 
as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  one  in  Us;"  where,  in  the  very  omission  of  the 
third  person,  we  seem  to  recognize  the  intention  of  the 
Saviour,  that  the  inhabitation  of  the  Spirit  should  unite  His 
followers,  almost  as  closely  with  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
as  the  Spirit  Himself  is  with  them  mysteriously  united. 
Christ  then,  one  with  His  S{)irit-guided  people,  beholds  His 
own  body  in  them,  and  loves  in  them  His  second  self;  "for 
no  man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh;  but  nourishcth 
and  cherisheth  it  even  as  the  Lord  the  Church.''^    Eph.  v.  29. 

But  I  have  said  yet  more  than  this.  He  is  with  one 
class  of  His  disciples  identified  not  in  nature  only,  nor  in 
grace  only,  but  in  condition  also.    He  has  left  holiness  in 


364 


The  Principles  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


the  world  as  His  inward  representative  ;  He  has  felt  pov- 
erty as  Ills  outward  portraiture.  For  this  assumption  also 
the  reason  is  furnished.  "Perfected  through  sufterings," 
He  was  to  become  a  consummate  "  Leader  of  Salvation"  to 
all  who  through  the  same  path  were  to  follow  Uim  to  the 
same  glory.  "  Though  rich,  He  became  poor ;"  that  as  a 
man  of  sorrows  He  might  feel  for  sorrow ;  that  the  full 
and  flowing  tide  of  brotherly  affection  might  fill  at  once 
His  own  Divine  heart  and  the  heart  of  His  afflicted  people ; 
that  no  one  temptation  might  assail  a  trusting  servant 
which  He  should  not  be  able  to  match  out  of  His  own 
treasuries  of  woe, — even  that  trial  to  Him  beyond  all  trials 
— the  agonizing  dread  of  a  Divine  desertion ;  and  that 
thus  "  having  been  tempted,  He  might  be  able  to  succor 
them  that  are  tempted."  For  this  cause  the  King  of  heaven 
despised  the  glories  of  earth ;  for  this  cause  He  selected, 
and  has  for  ever  consecrated,  that  state  of  suffering  indi- 
gence for  which  I  plead  this  day. 

Such,  then,  is  the  threefold  connection  of  Christ  with 
this  world,  in  nature,  in  grace,  in  affliction.  Let  no  man 
say  that  such  a  ground  of  appeal  is  obscure,  or  uncertain, 
or  fantastic;  never  surely  was  there  a  description  more 
solemnly  and  simply  serious  than  this  of  the  final  judg- 
ment ;  yet  HERE  this  mysterious  incorporation  is  the  very 
principle  of  the  decisions  of  the  tremendous  Judge.  In 
His  poor  disciples  He  sees  His  own  earthly  witnesses,  and 
the  affections  that  cling  to  them  He  regards  as  directed  to 
Himself.  At  a  moment  when  above  all  others  clearness 
and  simplicity  might  fairly  be  expected ;  and  when,  beyond 
all  doubt,  He  does  exhibit  to  us  the  simplest  form,  and  the 
simplest  ground,  of  His  requirements ;  at  such  a  moment 
it  is  that  He  tells  us,  that  He  is  in  the  world  vvherever 
there  is  destitution,  that  He  is  relieved  by  our  charity,  that 
He  is  rejected  by  our  avarice. 

II. — So  much  for  the  identity  of  Christ  with  sanctified 
and  suffering  man.    Now,  a  word  upon  the  nature  of  the 


SERM.  XXV.] 


the  Final  Judgment. 


365 


corresponding  duty  of  attacliment  to  these  representatives 
of  our  absent  Saviour. 

As,  then,  there  is  a  threefold  degree  of  tmion,  so  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  closeness  of  this  union  is  the  strength  of 
the  claim  which  the  Christian  heart  is  bound  to  acknow- 
ledge. The  love  to  God  made  manifest  in  Christ  Jesus, 
being  the  principle  of  the  whole  spiritual  life,  everything 
will  be  seen  by  the  light  which  the  blessed  object  of  that 
affection  sheds,  and  endeared  in  proportion  as  it  approaches 
that  centre,  and  final  standard  of  perfection.  There  is  no 
bigoted  exclusiveness,  there  is  no  irrational  and  arbitrary 
partiality  (as  men  insinuate,)  in  this  way  of  distributing  our 
affections ;  it  is  in  strict  accordance  with  that  great  eternal 
rule  of  reason  which  bids  us  love  as  meu  deserve  our  love; 
and  it  only  presumes  that  they  who  are  nearest  the  heart 
of  God,  and  most  richly  visited  by  His  graces,  will  best 
meet  and  answer  the  attachment  of  each  other.  In  the 
same  degree,  then,  that  men  are  near  to  Christ,  we  are  com- 
manded that  they  be  near  to  us.  All  humanity  claims  our 
affectionate  sympathy,  for  He  has  assumed  the  nature  of  a 
man;  every  regenerate  believer  in  Christ  Jesus  claims  yet 
higher  and  more  peculiar  affection,  for  with  him  Christ  is 
one  not  in  body  alone  but  in  Spirit  also.  And  if  among 
these  believers,  thus  one  with  Christ  and  with  us  in  Christ, 
there  be  some  who  stand  in  the  world  as  the  very  copies 
and  images  of  the  departed  Master ;  some  who  present  Him 
to  us  not  only  in  mystical  communion,  but  in  outward  form 
and  lineament,  showing  forth  His  mournful  life,  and  clad  in 
the  same  uniform  of  woe ;  if  there  be  some  who  hunger  as 
He  hungered,  and  like  Him  have  not  where  to  lay  their 
heads; — who  shall  say  that  there  is  not  a  bond  of  special 
tenderness  that  draws  such  a  people  as  this  nearer  to  the 
Christian  heart:  who  shall  say  that  such  as  these  are  not  to 
be  loved  for  their  very  sorrow's  sake — for  that  sorrow 
which  mirrors  the  humiliation  and  the  agonies  of  a  Saviour, 
absent  to  our  eyes,  but  present  to  our  hearts  in  them? 

31* 


366 


The  Principles  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


llere,  then,  is  the  scale  of  Christian  love;  it  does  not 
supersede  that  of  nature,  but  it  adds  new  and  peculiar 
motives  to  the  promptings  of  the  natural  affections.  "I 
love" — may  the  Christian  disciple  say — "  every  thing  that 
has  life,  because  the  Lord  of  glory  gave  that  life ;  I  love 
yet  more  every  human  being,  because  the  same  Lord  has 
adopted  and  redeemed  our  universal  nature ;  I  love,  with 
an  affection  yet  more  intense,  the  regenerate  people  of  God, 
for  Christ  dwelleth  in  them  ;  and  of  these  His  people,  with 
the  deepest  sympathy  of  all,  I  love  Ilis  poor,  because  they 
are  what  He  was,  bearing  His  image  and  superscription, 
bequeathed  to  us  as  living  and  abiding  memorials  of  His 
poverty  for  ever.  My  affections  are  in  His  disposal ;  let 
Him  expend  them  as  He  will ;  what  most  is  He — that  most 
I  cherish;  every  thing  that  I  love  below  shall  be  but  the 
reflection  of  the  light  I  adore  above."  This  is  the  Chris- 
tian's canon  of  the  affections ;  thus  in  every  earthly  attach- 
ment he  is  but  training  in  the  school  of  Christ,  and  loving 
Him  in  His.  The  Lord  Jesus  undergoes  a  kind  of  ever- 
lasting incarnation  in  His  Church ;  and  in  our  loving  the 
gracious  fruits  of  His  indwelling  in  His  people  He  is  not 
Himself  defrauded  of  our  affections;  it  is  still,  in  a  manner, 
"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  whom  we  cherish  and  revere. 

The  affections,  then,  that  cling  to  Christ  in  heaven,  do 
yet  embrace  all  His  earthly  manifestations;  and  chiefly 
those  in  which  we  behold  His  sanctifying  graces  and  the 
image  of  His  afflictions.  This  presence  of  Himself  in  His 
disciples  is  to  be  to  us  the  ground  of  every  tender  office  to 
the  brethren ;  we  are  but  loyal  to  Him  in  loving  them ! 
And  above  all — in  sorrow,  in  pain,  in  poverty — He  is 
among  us;  there  is  the  chosen  sanctuary  of  His  perpetu- 
ated presence;  there  is  the  temple  of  His  shrouded  glory. 
I  have  heard  of  a  wild  Italian  legend  which  tells  us  that 
the  Lord  is  still  a  tenant  of  our  earth ;  and,  with  His 
beloved  disciple,  annually  arrives  an  unknown  wanderer, 
among  the  mendicants  at  the  gates  of  Home.  Brethren, 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment. 


367 


there  is  a  meaning  in  the  fable !  It  is  among  the  poor  ye 
must  seek  these  Divine  features;  it  is  beneath  the  garments 
of  poverty  ye  must  learn  to  recognize  and  venerate  the 
Lord  of  life! 

Oh,  beloved  in  Jesus  Christ  I  we  feel  not  how  divine  a 
thing  is  sorrow,  when  we  forget  who  it  was  that  once  vol- 
untarily chose  it  as  His  own.  A  man  of  moderately  pious 
sensibility  would  surely  feel  a  strange  pleasure,  and  a  kind 
of  natural  dedication  to  holiness,  if  it  could  be  ascertained 
that,  by  some  happy  caprice  of  nature,  his  outward  face  and 
form  were  accurately  moulded  to  the  image  of  those  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  Christian  mourner  wears  the  dress 
— the  chosen  dress,  and  form,  and  feature — of  that  Divine 
Redeemer's  soul  I  "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you, 
but  Me  ye  have  not  always."  Nay,  Lord,  in  the  poor  we 
have  Thee — Thee  in  Thine  humble  image.  The  poor  man 
dwells  in  the  same  moral  climate  his  Saviour  inhabited ; 
breathes  the  air  his  Saviour  breathed:  is  there  not  something 
altogether  sublime  in  sorrow,  thus  for  ever  brightened, 
glorified,  transfigured  by  Ilim  who  rejected  every  other 
state  to  wear  it '/ 

(^^Transcendent  mystery !  A  God  was  to  come  among  us. 
The  heavenly  portals  open  wide  that  He  may  issue  forth, 
and  millions  of  adoring  angels  accompany  Him  as  He  leaves 
the  skies.  They  dare  not — they  cannot — look  upon  that 
awful  face ;  they  know  it  only  by  the  light  it  sheds,  as  with 
timid  eyes  they  watch  its  far-off  radiance,  and  hang  upon 
the  skirts  of  its  glory.  He  touches  the  verge  of  earth,  and 
they  retire  to  their  celestial  home;  but  ere  they  vanished 
back,  their  song  was  heard  that  night  by  the  waking  shep- 
herds of  Bethlehem  I  And  now  He  is  among  us  !  Arise 
and  welcome  Him,  0  earth  !  bring  forth  all  that  thou  hast 
of  precious  and  wonderful  to  lay  at  His  feet ;  crowns  and 
sceptres  and  regal  purple ;  the  glory  of  the  throne  and  the 
camp  and  the  senate  ;  temples  of  incense,  illuminated  cities, 
and  the  shout  of  kneeling  thousands.    Tliey  arc  here ;  He 


368 


The  Principles  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


has  but  to  put  forth  His  hands  and  all  is  His;  but  one  ma- 
jestic miracle  and  the  world  is  paralyzed  to  subjection.  Let 
"  the  thunder  of  His  power"  be  but  heard,  and  every  nation 
and  tongue  shall  do  Him  homage ;  East  and  West,  the 
haughty  Roman  and  the  soft  son  of  Asia ;  Scythian  and 
African,  yea,  the  far  undiscovered  lands,  burst  open  by  the 
flashing  of  Ilis  presence — all  will  struggle  who  shall  be  the 
deepest  slave.  But  how  is  this?  the  offering  is  untouched, 
unheeded.  The  gorgeous  vision  slowly  fades  away.  In 
its  place  arise  a  few  bare  hills  dotted  here  and  there  with 
the  mean  abodes  of  penury  ;  in  the  foreground  a  poor  man 
more  destitute  tEan  even  they : — He  is  weak  and  wayworn, 
exhausted  with  weariness  and  watching^s,  with  hunger  and 
thirst,  with  cold  and  nakedness ;  He  pauses  at  one  of  those 
miserable  dwellings,  and  some  few  faint  words  are  heard ; 
and  then  the  sullen  repulse; — and  the  Wanderer  turns 
away  with  a  groan,  lifts  his  eyes  to  mark  the  gathering 
storm,  and  sighs  as  He  resumes  His  path  of  pain,  "  The 
fowls  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  His  head."  Mighty  Lord,  who  wast  thus  re- 
jected that  we  might  live !  teach  us,  teach  us  to  understand 
and  feel  this  mystery  of  woe !  teach  us  to  love  what  Thou 
hast  made  thine  own ;  to  honor  the  misery  which  Thou 
hast  selected ;  to  look  with  respect  and  awe  upon  the  Chris- 
tian poverty  whose  sorrows  whisper  us  of  Thinej^; 

It  is  sucli?  poverty — the  poverty  of  Christ  present  and 
embodiefkin  His  people,  for  which  I  have  this  day  to  plead; 
it  is  the^overty  of  gospel-taught  brethren  and  sisters  in  the 
truth ;  of  those  who  are  the  same  with  you  in  faith,  who 
share  a  common  hope,  who  are  yours — as  in  faith  and  in 
hope — so,  I  trust  in  a  merciful  God  this  day  may  prove — 
in  the  bonds  also  of  a  common  charity!  It  is  for  sorrows 
such  as  these  on  which  the  very  signet  of  Christ  has  stamped 
His  own  Divine  character,  that  I  have  to  speak  to  you  on 
this  most  solemn  occasion  ;  and  you  must  forgive  me  if,  in 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment. 


369 


the  justifiable  freedom  of  my  office,  I  speak  to  you  in  a  tone 
of  censure,  painful,  believe  me,  not  less  to  him  who  speaks 
than  to  you  who  hear  it.  This  Association  for  the  relief 
of  Protestant  distress  comes  before  you  itself  in  the  charac- 
ter of  distress  and  difficulty ;  that  it  may  relieve  other  sup- 
pliants it  has  itself  to  become  a  suppliant.  You  have  not 
maintained  it  as  it  deserves.  It  is,  brethren,  it  is  a  shame 
to  your  liberality  that  this  excellent  Institution  should  ex- 
hibit its  melancholy  defalcation ;  that  with  increasing  de- 
mands it  should  be  still  forced  to  narrow  its  circle  of  bless- 
ing. You  know  well  that  this  is  no  common  charity ;  that 
its  claims  are  far  beyond  the  ordinary  claims  of  special  and 
local  institutions ;  that  it  is  the  great  means  afforded  in 
your  city  for  rescuing  the  poorer  members  of  the  faith  from 
degradation  and  famine ;  that  it  is  almost  the  sole  resource 
of  voluntary  benevolence  applicable  to  cases  not  provided 
for  by  our  few  occasional  and  local  aids ;  that  in  its  com- 
prehensive plan  it  is,  in  a  manner,  all  charities  spiritual  and 
temporal  in  one.  And  yet,  with  all  this  well  understood, 
the  melancholy  fact  is  equally  certain,  that  the  subscrip- 
tions in  aid  of  this  invaluable  organ  of  public  Protestant 
benevolence,  have  in  the  last  year  fallen  by  nearly  four 
hundred  pounds  below  those  of  the  preceding.  What  can 
account  for  this,  or  what  can  excuse  it  ?  Are  our  brethren 
in  Christ  less  destitute,  or  are  they  less  our  brethren  ?  with 
an  increasing  population,  are  there  fewer  to  be  fed  ?  with 
increasing  temptations  for  honest  poverty,  are  there  fewer 
to  be  rescued,  and  consoled,  and  fortified  ?  The  bonds  that 
tie  us  to  these  poor  people  are  woven  by  Christ  Himself ; 
but  even  were  nis  will  undeclared,  ask  your  own  sympa- 
thies as  men  and  citizens,  is  this  a  time  to  desert  the  poor 
protectorless  witnesses  of  His  truth  among  those  who  can- 
not understand,  and  will  not  love,  and  dare  not  help  them? 

Let  me  not  be  told  that  the  application  of  this  charity 
is  too  exclusive.  All  applications  of  charity  must  be  exclu- 
sive in  some  sense  to  be  available.    The  special  purpose 


370 


The  Princij^les  of 


[SEKM.  XXV. 


of  every  cliarity  confines  it  to  that  purpose ;  and  what  is 
this  but  to  exclude  all  to  whom  that  purpose  will  not  apply? 
In  any  lower  sense  of  degrading  religious  bigotry,  the 
charge  is  notoriously  unfounded  :  the  subscription  books  of 
every  public  charity  in  this  city  sufficiently  prove  whether 
Protestantism  can  be  caiholic  in  at  least  the  universality  of 
its  sympathies  with  human  suffering;  whether  the  professor 
of  the  pure  faith  of  the  Bible  requires  any  evidence  beyond 
the  lineaments  of  a  common  humanity  to  determine  the 
objects  of  his  benevolence.  Long  may  it  continue  so ;  it 
is  the  noblest  way  to  confute  the  cavils  of  controversialists 
against  the  moral  power  of  your  faith ;  it  is  worth  a  thou- 
sand theological  arguments !  For  all  the  general  purposes 
of  charity  the  Gospel,  we  may  be  assured,  was  never  sent 
to  contract  our  purse-strings ;  it  would  be  melancholy  in- 
deed if  we  were  to  read  our  Bibles  only  to  learn  wbom  not 
to  relieve.  Still,  the  same  Bible  fixes  some  nearer  your 
heart  than  others.  I  scruple  not  to  say,  because  I  am  sure 
you  will  not  misunderstand  or  exaggerate  my  meaning, — 
that  we  have  carried  our  habits  of  undistinguishing  charity 
almost  (if  that  be  possible)  to  an  excess ;  and  that  if  the 
alleged  exclusiveness  of  this  Institution  offend  some  of  its 
censurers,  it  is  only  because  we  have  so  long  forgotten  that 
cliarity,  to  be  just,  ought  to  apportion  its  aids  according 
to  the  equity  of  demands,  the  comparative  closeness  of 
connection,  and  the  immediate  pressure  of  circumstances. 
The  Gospel  rule  is  simple.  Love  all;  aid  whom  you  can; 
but  aid  those  most  whom  God  has  specially  allocated  to 
your  bounty. 

If,  then,  we  must  sometimes  restrict  and  appropriate  our 
charity,  I  remind  you  again — for  I  descend  to  no  other 
argument — that,  on  the  ground  of  the  community  in  the 
truth  of  Christ  that  obtains  between  us  and  the  poorest  of 
these  our  brethren,  we  are  bound  to  identify  our  interests 
with  theirs,  to  regard  them  as  members  of  our  own 
spiritual  constitution,  to  compassionate,  and  help,  and 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment.  871 


cherish  them  as  such.  But  doubly  are  we  on  religious 
grounds  bound  to  this  office,  if  in  their  poverty  we  have 
reason  to  see  their  extreme  religious  danger.  If  there  be 
reason  to  fear  that  these  poor  people  are  encompassed 
with  temptations  to  desert  the  faith  of  the  Gospel ;  if  they 
are  known  to  be  but  a  few  scattered  among  thousands ;  if 
their  number  prevents  mutual  support,  and  combination, 
and  countenance ;  if  their  comparative  feebleness  expose 
them  to  mockery  and  contempt ;  if  they  are  surrounded 
by  a  population,  every  member  of  which  deems  it  the 
highest  conceivable  merit  before  God  to  snatch  His  crea- 
ture from  the  eternal  perdition  of  unrepented  heresy,  and 
can  scarcely  deem  any  measure  unwarrantable  that  pro- 
mises to  secure  such  a  result ;  if  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
supposed  duty  that  population  is  urged  and  encouraged 
by  a  priesthood,  perhaps  through  the  world  unparalleled 
in  their  zeal  for  nominal  conversions ;  if  frequent  personal 
visitation,  and  seductive  plausibilities  addressed  to  the 
ear,  and  pompous  processions  addressed  to  the  eye,  and 
the  influence  of  almost  universal  example  addressed  to 
both — surround  and  tempt  the  solitary  Protestant ;  if  these 
motives  press,  hour  after  hour,  upon  the  lonely  unprotected 
man,  and  the  chief  safeguard  against  their  power — the 
regular  attendance  of  church  services  and  the  strengthen- 
ing presence  of  his  brother  worshippers — his  wretched 
poverty  forbids ; — What,  I  ask  you,  can  be  the  result,  but 
too  often  those  wretched  apostasies  that  vex  and  harass 
the  guardians  of  Christ's  little  flock,  and  swell  the  triumph 
of  their  busy  antagonists  ?  Brethren !  you  mu.st  blunt  the 
force  of  these  temptations ;  you  must  shield  the  indigent 
Protestant  from  these  perilous  assaults  upon  the  honesty 
of  his  heart  and  the  strength  of  his  convictions ; — "  con- 
verted" yourselves,  you  must  "strengthen  your  brethren  ;" 
it  is  for  you  to  rescue  these  poor  victims  from  being  the 
perpetual  objects  of  a  warfare  of  petty  cunning,  and  insin- 
uation, and  falsehood,  by  enabling  them  to  live  without 


372 


The  Principles  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


leaving  your  communion,  and  to  enjoy  the  invigorating 
services  of  religion  in  the  same  holy  temples  as  yourselves, 
without  the  shame  of  entering  those  temples  in  the 
miserable  livery  of  pauperism. 

But  men  perpetually  object, — "  Why  paint  us  iww  these 
pictures  of  unreclaimed  destitution  ?  Public  legislation 
has  now  superseded  the  necessity  of  private  charity ;  a  fiat 
has  gone  forth  from  the  high  places  of  the  land  that  for- 
bids any  Irishman  to  starve;  we  contribute  to  this  fund 
of  statutory  charity,  and  our  consciences  arc  satisfied." 
Brethren,  this  is  a  subject  in  which  the  pulpit  should  not 
be  silent.  For  those  who  sincerely  and  conscientiously 
desire  to  do  the  will  of  God,  there  are  probably  few  more 
important  points  of  practical  instruction  at  the  present 
crisis.  In  this  conviction  I  must  plainly  tell  you,  that 
your  consciences  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  any  con- 
sideration that  supersedes  liberal  voluntary  charity ;  that 
in  doing  so  you  forget  the  law  of  Christ  in  the  law  of  the 
land ;  and  idly  imagine  that  you  are  bearing  the  easy  yoke 
and  light  burden  of  the  Saviour,  when  you  are  really 
working  in  the  harness  of  compulsory  civil  enactments. 
"What  ?  are  all  those  texts  of  our  Book  that  make  the  life 
of  the  Christian  one  incessant  outbreathing  of  benevolence, 
that  (as  you  heard  this  day)''''  declare  God  Himself  to  be 
Love,  and  Love  the  fulfilling  of  God's  whole  law — are  all 
these  to  be  obliterated  because  we  pay  so  many  pence  in 
the  pound  to  the  district  collector  ?  Are  we  to  commute 
with  Christ,  and  refer  Ilim  for  His  high  exclusive  claims 
to  the  books  of  the  parish  officer,  where  we  are  debtors  to 
the  law,  and  pay  because  we  cannot  help  it  ?  Are  these 
to  be  the  agents  of  our  gentle  Christian  charity,  the  men 
who  enforce  (and  justly)  our  tribute  money  with  the  stern 
sanction  in  the  rear  of  legal  processes  and  penal  inflictions? 
No,  brethren,  you  must  not  confound  these  things !  What 


*  First  Sunday  after  Trinity. 


SEKM.  XXV.] 


the  Final  Judgment. 


373 


you  pay  to  the  public  collector  for  our  poor,  pay  with, 
cheerfulness,  with  hope,  with  prayer  that  a  blessing  may 
rest  upon  its  distribution ;  but  never  forget  that  in  doing 
so  you  are  "  rendering  unto  Coesar  the  things  Avhich  are 
Caesar's,"  not  rendering  "unto  God  the  things  that  are 
God's."  I  repeat  it,  on  your  peril  confound  not  these 
obligations !  The  Church's  charity  to  her  poor  rests  on  a 
ground  altogether  transcending  the  enactments  of  earthly 
policy,  a  basis  eternal  as  the  mind  of  God  Himself,  which 
no  legal  interferences  can  either  strengthen  or  enfeeble. 
The  Church's  charity  is  God's  own  Divine  poor-law,  with 
its  spring  deep  in  the  regenerate  human  heart,  and  its 
diffusion  wide  as  the  world.  Alas !  were  tliat  law  as 
practically  ef&cient  as  He  meant  it  to  be,  no  other  need 
ever  have  entered  our  statute  books;  Christ's  Spirit  would 
have  solved  the  question  that  so  long  perplexed  our 
statesmen,  and  no  poor  rate  need  have  existed  but  that 
which  once  drove  destitution  out  of  the  Church  of  God, 
because  "  these  Christians  so  loved  one  another."  But  as 
it  is,  and  since  these  remedies  must  be,  I  warn  you  that 
you  imagine  not  that  your  payments  to  the  state  arc  to 
release  one  fraction  of  your  payments  to  the  treasury  of 
Christ.  Poor-laws  exist  because  selfish  men  would  not 
save  a  brother  from  starvation  without  them;  but  poor- 
laws  are  nothing  to  the  Christian  disciple.  "  The  love  of 
Christ  constraincth  Aim;"  " Conimandments"  which  "are 
not  grievous,"  which  are  only  the  more  powerful  the 
more  his  "  heart  is  set  at  liberty,"  are  his  secret  laws ;  the 
voice  of  the  poor  he  hears  as  the  voice  of  Chkist,  their 
miseries  as  the  miseries  of  Christ ;  it  is  Christ  who  groans 
upon  the  fevered  couch,  it  is  Christ  who  cries  in  the 
despair  of  hunger,  it  is  Christ  who  is  naked  and  asks  for 
clothing,  who  is  sick  and  must  be  visited,  who  is  in  prison 
and  must  be  "  come  unto."  These  are  the  bonds  of  Christ 
Jesus,  which  are  His,  which  are  yours — no  matter  what 
poor-law  compels  you  to  charity!  Misery  enough  will 
VOL.  11.-32 


374  The  Principles  of  [serm.  xxv. 


still  exist  to  make  needful  all,  and  more  than  all,  you  ever 
gave ;  and  your  Christian  obligation  to  relieve  it  by  volun- 
tary aid,  no  earthly  legislation  can  any  wise  affect.  Thank 
God,  it  xvill  exist ;  for  were  it  not  in  the  world,  our  indu- 
rated hearts  could  never  be  disciplined  for  the  eternal 
charities  of  heaven ! 

For  look  to  this,  beloved  brethren !  you  are  here  edu- 
caUnr]  iov  immortality;  love  is  the  main  principle  of  the 
education,  for  "  never-failing"  love  is  to  be  the  main  charac- 
teristic of  the  immortality.  The  poor  are  forbid  "to  cease 
out  of  the  land,"  that  this  preparatory  love  may  never  in 
this  world  cease  to  have  its  apjaropriate  objects.  The  more 
you  learn  to  love  the  brethren,  the  more  you  come  to  re- 
semble the  living  God;  for — once  more  to  recall  the  me- 
morable epistle  of  the  day — "  God  is  love,  and  He  that 
dwelleth  in  love  dwclleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him."  Every 
sacrifice  for  our  fellows,  every  real  heartfelt  intention  for 
their  happiness,  works  our  nature  yet  more  and  more  into 
the  bright  similitude  of  God ;  and  fits  our  spirits  to  be 
eventually  the  loving  tenants  of  a  land  of  love. 

Cannot  you  then  feel  that  no  public  compulsory  enact- 
ment can  for  a  moment  suspend  the  necessity  for  carrying 
on  this  discipline  of  your  own  hearts  ?  Need  I  ask  you, 
how  is  any  man's  nature  the  better  for  giving  what  he  can- 
not escape  giving  ?  how  does  he  rise  in  the  school  of  love 
who  pays  through  fear  ?  And  though  much  may  be  done 
towards  sanctifying  a  compulsory  gift  through  resignation, 
and  making  that  an  act  of  the  pure  will  which  cannot  at 
all  events  be  evaded  ;  I  need  not  remind  you  how  decep- 
tive and  uncertain  is  such  a  process  as  this:  how  little  we 
can  depend  on  it  as  an  instance  of  genuine  benevolence ; 
how,  in  short,  we  can  depend  on  nothing  as  a  training  in 
the  love  of  man  and  the  likeness  of  God,  but  constant 
habitual  tenderness  of  heart ;  charities  liberal,  disinterested, 
unostentatious,  unforced, — wrought  through  the  deep  feel- 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgmmt. 


375 


ing  of  the  communion  of  all  men  in  tlie  same  nature,  of 
the  communion  of  all  saints  in  the  same  re2;eueratioD. 

You  see,  then,  how  this  too  prevalent  objection  to  our 
Christian  charities,  drawn  from  the  existence  of  a  poor-law 
enactment,  Avhen  viewed  in  the  blessed  light  of  Divine 
truth,  has  no  real  force ; — how  it  rests  iipon  low  and  earthlj, 
and  unspiritual  views  of  the  real  demands  of  brotherly 
charity.  We  have  seen  how  the  Christian's  bond  of  love 
is  one  with  which  no  State  enactment  has  any  connection 
at  all ;  which  depends  on  principles  that  cannot  be  in  the 
slightest  degree  disturbed  by  any  interferences  of  the  policy 
of  this  world  ;  turning  as  it  does,  solely  on  the  glorious  fact 
that  Christ  is  ours,  and  with  Christ  every  member  of  Christ's 
family.  Then,  again,  have  we  not  seen,  that  as  we  are  in 
this  world  training  by  love  for  a  world  whose  happiness  is 
love,  so  our  charity  must  essentially  be  a  loving  charity — 
a  charity  of  the  heart ;  and  that  nothing  can  be  safely  re- 
garded as  such  but  that  to  which  no  earthly  power  compels 
us,  which  is  bestowed  solely  by  the  sweet  compulsion  of 
affection,  and  thus  becomes  a  real  evidence  of  the  affection 
that  prompts  it.    But  once  more: — 

This  is  in  itself  a  narrow  and  degrading  objection  for 
any  man  to  advance.  What  ?  have  we  discharged  all  our 
duties  to  the  poor  Protestant  when  we  have  abandoned  him 
to  the  alms-house  ?  Is  that  the  acme  of  our  Christian  sym- 
pathy ?  Is  that  the  glorious  evidence  of  our  brotherhood 
in  the  faith  ?  We  are  bound  to  him  by  immortal  ties ;  he 
is  with  us  a  witness  for  Christ  upon  earth  ;  he  is  with  us 
involved  in  those  dangers  and  difficulties  of  position,  that 
must  ever  belong  more  or  less  to  the  truth,  when  the  truth 
is  in  a  minority ;  in  his  own  humble  sphere  he  works  with 
us  to  manifest  the  power  of  a  pure  Gospel  faith  in  general 
honesty  of  life  and  simplicity  of  dcpoi'tment ;  his  sorrows 
are  reported  to  us;  men — kind, laborious  men — come  to  us 
with  his  story  ;  they  tell  us  that  this  poor  brother  is  starv- 
ing, that  his  family  are  dying  one  by  one  around  him,  that 


376 


The  Princijiles  of 


[seem.  XXV. 


he  is  too  often  the  subject  of  mockery,  slander,  and  all  the 
infinite  varieties  of  petty  persecution ;  and  we  think  it 
enough  to  replay,  that  truly  we  discharge  the  parish  rates, 
that,  thank  God,  no  man  can  say  we  arc  in  his  books ;  and 
that,  doubtless,  this  poor  object,  whoever  he  may  be,  can 
share  the  public  charity  Avith  the  rest  of  its  dependants. 
Admirable !  you  have  discharged  your  duty  when  you 
have  raised  your  brother  in  the  Gospel  to  the  dignity  of  a 
parish  pauper  !  The  man  who  once  knew  the  content  of 
honest  industry,  Avould  gladly  again  enter  his  career  of 
quiet  usefulness ;  he  abhors,  like  any  independent  spirit, 
the  painful  position  of  a  fixed  pensioner  on  legal  charity ; 
he  asks  you  to  save  him  from  the  degradation  ;  a  loan— a 
small  loan  may  do  it — for  when  the  heart  is  resolute,  how 
little  may  be  the  germ  of  prosperity ! — and  your  answer  is 
— blush  every  Christian  who  could  conceive  such  an  answer 
this  day  !  your  answer  is — that  the  work-house  is  open  for 
paupers,  and  among  its  rank  and  file  of  misery  the  forsaken 
Protestantism  of  your  country  may  take  its  place  !  I  tell 
you,  the  Gospel-taught  Protestant  will  not  accept  your  an- 
swer, for  he  knows  the  validity  of  his  Christian  claim ;  I 
tell  you,  your  teachers  in  Christ  Jesus  will  not  accept  your 
answer,  for  it  is  a  different  lesson  they  have  taught  you ;  I 
tell  you  that  an  authority  mightier  than  your  earthly 
brother  or  father  in  Christ  Jesus  will  not  accept  your  an- 
swer— the  eternal  Judge  who  at  this  hour  knows  your 
hearts,  and  knows  also  the  wants  and  the  claims  of  every 
poor  member  of  His  mystical  body ;  I  tell  you  He  will  not 
accept  the  plea  tliat  sends  Ilis  poverty-stricken  people  from 
being  the  active,  industrious  examples  of  a  neighborhood, 
to  pine  and  wither  in  the  gloomy  retreats  of  heartless,  hope- 
less destitution.  Surely  this  is  a  most  important  considera- 
tion, this  public  benefit  of  Protestant  example;  found  to 
be,  as  we  may  confidently  pronounce  it,  alike  in  this  city 
and  in  the  nation  at  large,  a  magnificent  attestation  of  the 
practical  excellence  of  the  faith  that  produces  it.  Your 


SERM.  XXV.]  the  Final  Judgment. 


877 


duty  is  not  to  make  tlie  poor-liouse  the  stated  refuge  for 
the  indigence  of  our  people,  but  to  rescue  from  the  neces- 
sity of  recurring  to  the  poor-house ;  your  duty  is  to  inter- 
pose between  your  famishing  brother  and  that  sad  liome  of 
paralyzed  poverty,  to  meet  him  on  the  way,  to  cherish  his 
infirm  purpose,  and  restore  him,  if  possible,  to  the  useful 
activities  of  social  life.  It  is  not  that  they  may  fade  away 
in  the  silence  of  such  asylums,  that  the  providence  of  Christ 
has  scattered  His  believing  people  through  this  unhappy 
land ;  it  is  not  that  they  may  decay  and  fester  in  nerveless 
inactivity  that  He  has  set  these  watchmen  of  the  Gospel 
faith  in  the  midst  of  a  superstitious  population  ; — He  has 
meant  that  every  professor  of  His  truth,  however  lowly, 
should  be  a  seed  and  germ  of  the  truth  to  all  around  him, 
that  these  lights  dispersed  through  the  darkness  should  be 
the  beacon-lights  of  temporal  contentment  and  eternal  hap- 
piness to  whole  circles  of  deceived  and  ignorant  worship- 
pers; that  the  poor  Protestant  should  be  a  living  exempli- 
fication, and  in  his  own  humble  way  a  perpetual  apostle,  of 
that  "faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  to  which  Christ  in 
His  mercy  has  called  him.  No — no — you  have  not  done 
your  duty  to  your  brother  in  Christ  Jesus  when  you  have 
sent  him  to  pace  the  gloomy  cloisters  of  the  mendicant's 
last  home ;  you  have  not  fulfilled  the  purposes  of  the 
Church's  Almighty  Head  when  you  have  withdrawn  him 
from  the  olfice  of  standing  for  the  truth  in  the  broad  day- 
light of  the  world,  and  thus  making  his  existence  known 
and  felt,  to  bury  him  in  the  common  heap  of  misery  that 
stagnates  behind  the  walls  of  a  poor-house. 

Moreover,  this  too  must  be  remembered.  If  the  public 
tax  for  our  poor  has  secured  from  extreme  cases  of  desti- 
tution, it  has  only  altered  the  level  on  which  the  exertions 
of  such  an  Association  as  this  must  operate.  Suppose  it 
certain  that  henceforth  no  Protestant  in  this  city  need  die 
of  starvation,  are  our  charities  really  to  be  limited  to 
securing  our  fellow-believers  from  tlie  last  agonies  of 

82* 


378 


The  Princij^Ies  of 


[SERM.  XXV. 


famine?  is  our  benevolence  satisfied  wlien  we  liave  ascer- 
tained that  men  and  women  shall  not  die  of  hunger  on  the 
steps  of  our  mansions?  The  truth  is,  that  there  is  a  class 
of  cases  infinitely  more  interesting  and  important  that 
open  to  this  Association,  when  its  hands  are  relaxed  from 
doling  out  shillings  to  the  starving  mechanic.  If  you 
want  really  to  see  and  understand  the'blessedness  of  charity, 
3'ou  must  sometimes  travel  a  step  higher.  You  must  enter 
the  parlor  of  the  decent  and  reputable  tradesman,  to  whom 
beggary  would  be  pollution,  and  the  poor-house  little  better; 
you  must  see  him  by  the  casualties  of  his  trade  reduced  to 
a  state  of  heart-broken  poverty  which  he  is  himself  asham- 
ed to  acknowledge;  you  must  discover  — for  often  he  will 
shudder  to  tell — how  from  step  to  step  he  has  sunk  till 
first  his  few  superfluities,  and  then  the  common  comforts, 
and  then  the  last  necessaries  of  life,  had  to  be  surrendered ; 
you  must  watch  the  lip  quiver,  and  the  wasted  cheek  flush, 
as  he  murmurs  his  wretched  admission— and  still  strives  to 
disguise  it — that  before  you  speak  of  comfort  to  his  soul 
it  is  needful  you  should  help  the  fainting  body — for  of  a 
truth,  my  richer  brethren,  one  meal  in  some  six  and  thirty 
hours  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  uphold  our  human  frame. 
He  is  found,  it  may  be,  in  bed ;  you  inquire  his  ailment ; 
you  promise  to  procure  medical  aid;  he  murmurs  his 
tlianks,  but  declines  your  proffer;  and  the  miserable  secret 
slowly  discloses  itself — you  know  not  whether  to  rejoice  or 
grieve  as  you  learn — that  the  sickness  itself  is  counterfeit, 
a  wretched  artifice  of  poverty ;  that  bed  must  be  his  only 
home,  for  he  lacks  common  clothing  not  merely  to  leave 
his  own  door,  but  even  to  sit  beside  his  own  hearth!  Cases 
like  these  are  above  all  others  the  cases  in  which  this  Insti- 
tution may  be  a  blessed  means  of  invaluable  relief.  To 
restore  a  man  of  this  station  to  his  path  of  honest  exer- 
tion ;  to  enable  him  once  more  to  set  the  example  of  social 
usefulness ;  this  is  to  do  charity  in  the  happiest  spirit ;  it  is 
not  to  make  its  object  a  dependant,  but  to  enable  him  to  be 


SERM.  XXV.] 


the  Final  Judgment. 


379 


no  longer  so ;  it  is  to  benefit  not  that  immediate  object 
alone,  but  a  large  section  of  society  that  is  elevated  and 
quickened  by  his  recovered  influence. 

But  I  must  cease ;  for  I  am  aware  I  have  detained  your 
attention  beyond  the  usual  period.  Pardon  me,  brethren ; 
remember,  that  if  I  have  addressed  you  at  greater  length 
than  is  common,  it  is  no  common  cause  for  which  I  plead. 
The  claims  of  Four  hundred  and  eighty-jive  families  rejected 
during  the  past  year  for  want  of  means ;  the  voice  of  four 
hundred  and  eighty-five  families  supplicating  to  be  saved 
from  ruin,  or  the  home-exile  of  a  work-house ;  a  failure  of 
nearly  four  hundred  pounds  in  the  amount  of  your  contribu- 
tions; proportionate  difficulties  and  entanglements  to  the 
perplexed  ministers  of  charity ;  these  are  the  urgencies  that 
have  made  me  unwilling  to  leave  this  pulpit  while  one 
chance  remained  of  awakening  you  to  compassion.  I  ask 
for  a  large  disbursement  this  day  from  those  who  are  here; 
I  ask,  through  them,  for  large  and  instant  donations  from 
those  who  are  not.  Be  every  one  of  you  the  echo  of  my 
voice  through  this  city,  that  what  is  here  said  may  be  fully, 
and  clearly,  and  widely  known ;  for  what  is  my  voice  but 
itself  the  echo  of  a  thousand  mourners,  lingering  in  lanes 
and  bye-ways,  in  haunts  where  hunger  tempts  despairing 
poverty  to  crime,  and  piety  itself  has  almost  ceased  to  hope  ? 
Hear  them,  brethren,  and  help !  Help  them  and — not  / 
will  reward  you ;  no  mortal  voice  is  that  which  promises 
your  recompense ;  a  mightier  power  than  man's  is  pledged 
to  remember  your  deeds  this  day.  The  minister  gives  way 
to  the  Master.  "  Behold  He  cometh !"  A  light  not  of 
earth  is  above  us;  the  unsetting  Sun  of  Eternity  is  risen! 
The  walls  of  this  earthly  tabernacle  made  with  hands  vanish 
as  we  gaze ;  the  everlasting  temple  of  God  and  the  Lamb 
expands  around  our  ascended  and  glorified  bodies ;  and 
amid  the  hosannas  of  ten  thousand  thousand  that  stand  be- 
fore Him,  "  the  shout  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of 


380     The  Prmcij^les  of  the  Filial  Judgment.      [SERM.  XXV. 

God,"  a  Voice  is  lieard  tliat  pierces  through  them  all — a 
voice  soft  as  the  breathings  of  iiifancj^,  yet  awful  too,  as  be- 
seems the  sceptred  Monarch  of  eternity : — "  Inasmuch  as 

YE  HAVE  DONE  IT  UNTO  ONE  OF  THE  LEAST  OF  THESE  MY 
BRETHREN,  YE  HAVE  DONE  IT  UNTO  ME." 


SEEMON  XXYI. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 

(First  Sunday  after  Trinity.) 

Between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  :  so  that  they  which  would  pass 
from  hence  to  you  cannot;  neither  can  they  pass  to  us,  that  would  come  from 
thence. — St  Luke  xvi.  26. 

It  is  well,  my  brethren,  that  the  Church  has  taken  care 
to  set  before  us  the  awful  topic  of  this  clay's  gospel.  One 
of  the  many  obvious  advantages  of  a  fixed  Liturgy  is  this, 
— that  it  maintains  for  the  people  the  due  proportion  of 
divine  truth ;  that  it  secures  them  (to  a  certain  degree)  from 
the  arbitrary  and  exclusive  selections  of  diflerent  schools  of 
teachers,  and  thus  preserves  to  them  unimpaired  their 
entire  inheritance  of  Revelation.  But  in  no  department  of 
Divine  Truth  is  the  evil  thus  partly  remedied  more  lament- 
ably prevalent  than  in  the  subject  now  before  us.  In  this 
place,  indeed,  the  very  variety  of  your  instructors — not  to 
speak  of  the  greater  opportunities  of  sound  and  enlarged 
study — may  probably  help  to  correct  the  tendency  to  restrict 
the  theology  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  a  few  selected  tenets. 
But  I  appeal  to  all  who  have  candidly  observed  the  gene- 
ral current  and  complexion  of  Christian  teaching  in  o\ir 
days  and  Church,  whether  there  be  not  a  most  undeniable 
comparative  obscuration  in  that  teaching,  of  a  certain  vast 
and  weighty  order  of  subjects, — at  least  a  lack  of  the  direct- 


382 


Eternal  Punishment.  [serm.  xxvi. 


ness  and  simplicity  of  Scripture  enforcement  witli  regard 
to  tliom.  You  will  readily  apprehend  that  I  allude  to  sucli 
great  Scripture  truths  as  the  judgment  of  all  men  according 
to  their  works,  and  perhaps  still  more — its  result  in  the 
awful  everlasting  doom  of  the  wicked.  Of  course  I  do  not 
for  a  moment  mean  to  affirm  that  such  doctrines  are  ex- 
pressly denied ;  that  men  formally  and  verbally  contradict 
the  New  Testament  afBrmations  on  the  subject ;  but  that 
they  are  not  made  to  occupy  the  2^Iace,  whether  as  to  extent 
or  importance,  which  they  hold  in  the  New  Testament. 
One  writer  of  great  eloquence  and  power,  who  has  exer- 
cised much  influence  on  the  general  mind,  thinks  it  neces- 
sary, whenever  he  approaches  the  subject  of  the  rewards  of 
righteousness,  to  soothe  what  he  styles  "  the  alarms  of  the 
orthodox."  The  orthodox  !  What  must  the  "  orthodoxy" 
be,  which  starts  with  all  the  dread  of  anticipated  heresy,  at 
the  mere  sound  of  a  theme  which,  however  it  be  explained, 
makes,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  substance  of  a  third  of 
the  Gospels ! 

The  common  disinclination  to  press,  in  the  plain  way  of 
Scripture,  these  most  awful  subjects,  arises  from  several 
sources.  In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  be  thought  that 
these  motives  are  of  a  low  and  earthly  character,  common 
to  us  with  the  morality  of  heathen  philosophy,  and  hardly 
distinctive  enough  of  the  Christian  Gospel.  Yet  our 
blessed  Lord  ought  to  have  understood  His  own  Divine 
system;  and  it  will  hardly  be  denied  that  JTis  discourses  at 
least  abound  with  these  statements  of  judgment  and  of 
retribution.  And  even  supposing  the  general  notion  of 
retribution  to  be  observable  in  much  of  the  better  human, 
as  well  as  in  the  Divine,  ethics,  one  would  think  that  this 
ought  rather  to  impress  the  exceeding  importance  of  a  doc- 
trine which  God  has  deemed  of  such  moment  as  never  to 
have  left  mankind  without  some  faint  belief  in  it,  while 
giving  it,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  Ilis  own  express  confirma- 
tion.   Still  it  may  be  granted,  that  fear  of  punishment  is 


SEEM.  XXVI.] 


Eternal  Punishment. 


383 


comparatively  a  low  motive,  in  itself  somewhat  poor  and 
slavish ;  and  that  it  is  less  and  less  required  as  men  rise  in 
the  scale  of  sanctification.  Doubtless ;  but  are  our  congrega- 
tions ordinarily  such  men  ?  It  is  the  evil — the  incalculable 
evil — of  the  partial  and  limited  exhibition  of  Divine  truth 
I  allude  to,  that  it  is  almost  wholly  above  the  level  of  the 
real  attainments  of  congregations,  and  thus  inevitably  tends 
to  foster  self-delusion  as  to  their  own  state.  Why  address 
the  decorous  worldliness  of  fashionable  religionism,  as  if  it 
possessed  motives  it  has  never  once  realized?  And  while 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  a  man  cannot  be  ordinarily 
said  to  possess  the  faith  that  is  accepted  unto  justification, 
who  has  as  yet  no  true  desire  at  all  for  spiritual  enjoyments, 
I  will  nevertheless  venture  to  affirm  that  a  man  who  really 
feels  afraid  of  God,  who  has  a  real  belief  of  hell,  and  a  real 
dread  of  it,  has  made  some  way.  It  is  no  small  matter  to 
realize  the  invisible  in  any  of  its  regions.  If  a  man  believes 
a  hell,  he  so  far  believes  the  Scriptures,  and  has  generally 
some  further  knowledge  of  their  contents;  nor  except  in 
those  dreadful  cases  of  sudden  remorse  in  the  terror  of  death, 
and  the  like,  or  where  the  religious  teaching  has  been 
miserably  defective,  is  there  commonly  a  real  fear  of  hell 
without  some  attraction  of  the  heart  to  holiness. 

Another  reason  for  this  omission  is  probably  to  be 
found  in  a  vague  but  powerful  and  influential  notion, 
that  these  terrific  disclosures  of  Scripture  are  so  largely 
metaphorical  as  to  be  of  little  service  for  direct  instruc- 
tion. The  everlasting  is  only  a  figure  for  lengthened  dura- 
tion ;  the  fire  of  torment  is  not  material,  but  symbolical  of 
mental  affliction — a  mental  affliction,  observe,  which,  con- 
sisting mainly  in  the  loss  of  God,  the  wicked  cannot  even 
conceive ;  the  judgment  itself  is  but  a  long  process  of 
gradual  discrimination  between  difl'ercnt  classes  of  charac- 
ter. By  such  qualifications  as  these  the  sharper  and  sterner 
features  of  the  subject  are  smoothened  away,  and  room  is 


384 


Eternal  Punishment. 


[SERM.  XXVI. 


nfforded  for  the  fond,  self-flattering  visions  of  an  indolence 
unwilling  to  be  aroused  or  alarmed. 

But  in  truth  this  welcome  scepticism  is  carried  much 
further.  One  would  not  without  reluctance  attribute  it  to 
any  class  of  professional  religious  teachers  in  these  islands; 
but  I  fear  he  must  have  ill-observed  the  floating  creed  of 
general  society,  who  is  not  aware  how  largely  diffused  is 
the  positive  disbelief  of  any  outburst  at  all  of  Divine  anger 
in  the  world  to  come.  Not  merely  the  avowed  rejecter  of 
Christianity,  but  even  men  of  some  religious  pretensions, 
seem  strangely  agreed  to  forget  altogether  the  more  awful 
side  of  the  Divine  character ;  and  with  the  majority  of  men 
of  the  world,  the  doctrine  of  an  eternal  doom  of  condem- 
nation seems,  when  they  think  at  all  about  it,  monstrous, 
disproportioned,  impossible. 

Certainly,  under  these  circumstances,  it  is  well  that  the 
Church — as  on  this  day — will  not  suffer  us  to  overlook 
these  tremendous  declarations  of  Holy  Scripture;  where 
the  same  God  who  promises  heaven  threatens  hell,  and 
the  same  scepticism  which  trifles  with  the  one  must  reject 
both. 

And,  oh  my  brethren !  of  a  truth  it  is  no  marvel  that 
such  things  as  these  should  be  bitter  and  unwelcome  to 
man ;  that  they  should  naturally  tend  to  fade  and  disap- 
pear from  our  thoughts,  like  all  else  we  dread  and  dislike. 
Strange,  indeed,  were  such  a  doctrine  or  its  preaching 
popular !  Who  that  knows  aught  of  our  customary  weak- 
nesses can  anticipate  but  that  prepossessions,  not  to  be 
overborne  except  by  the  most  resolute  perseverance  of  the 
watchmen  of  Christ,  shall  arise  against  a  truth,  which  were 
it  conceived  in  its  full  proportions,  (a  task  perhaps  impos- 
sible to  man!)  would  involve  the  whole  face  of  nature  in 
gloom,  would  hang  the  very  heavens  in  black,  and  make 
all  their  daily  and  nightly  glories  but  the  torch-lights  of  a 
funeral  chamber ;  a  truth  which  loads  every  instant  of  life 
with  a  weight  almost  intolerable  of  responsibility,  which 


SEKM.  XXVI.]  Eternal  Punishment. 


385 


contracting  life  to  a  short  winter-day,  stretches  out  beyond 
it  the  drear,  the  starless  dark  of  a  midnight  on  which  no 
morrow  shall  ever  dawn ; — which  affrights  us  with  the 
horrible  thought  of  a  duration  of  woe  counted  not  by  years 
but  by  ages ;  which  tells  us — us  who  live  by  pity,  social 
enjoyment,  mutual  kindness,  friendship  real  or  supposed — 
that  there  can  be,  and  for  millions  will  be,  a  time  when  no 
pity  shall  exist  in  the  whole  wide  universe  for  them,  no 
mercy  from  Godj  no  compassion  from  each  other,  no  refuge, 
no  hope ;  when  that  on-looking  tendency  which  makes  the 
best  happiness  of  us  all,  shall  shrink  back  upon  itself 
withered  and  blasted,  or  exist  only  to  press  home  to  the 
heart  more  keenly  the  reality  of  eternal,  immutable  wretch- 
edness. Shall  we  indeed  wonder  that  this  mystery  of  woe 
— for  a  mystery  it  surely  is — should  ever  be  an  unwilling 
theme  for  man  to  listen  to  or  man  to  speak  ? 

It  was  indeed  in  a  great  measure  (we  may  suppose)  this 
natural  reluctance  which  in  all  ages  of  Christianity  has  led 
to  the  various  hypotheses  by  which  the  broad  and  unquali- 
fied statements  of  Scripture  as  to  the  two  states,  eternal 
and  opposite,  have  been  modified.  Men  felt  a  twofold  per- 
plexity in  this  matter.  When  the  moral  diflferences  be- 
tween man  and  man  appeared  to  graduate  through  every 
shade  from  utter  depravity  to  mature  saintliness,  it  seemed 
difficult  to  provide  for  all  by  the  mere  supposition  of  two 
opposite  retributory  states.  Again — the  tremendous  doom 
of  eternal  misery  appeared  disproportioned  to  any  amount 
at  all  of  human  criminality.  The  latter  of  these  difficulties 
led  to  the  bold  assumption  of  Origen  and  his  followers, 
that  all  punishment  is  temporary — a  doctrine  which, 
though  revived  by  some  philosophic  writers  of  repute 
even  within  the  Church  of  later  days,  is  now  as  a  formal 
theological  tenet  confined  almost  wholly  to  that  great  and 
wide-spread  heresy,  whose  only  real  canon  of  interpretation 
is  this,  that  in  all  things  alike — whether  the  nature  of  God 
or  the  destination  of  man — Revelation  must  bow,  not  iu- 
VOL.  II.— 33 


386 


Eternal  Punishment.         [serm.  xxvi. 


deed  to  reason,  but  to  those  illusory  prejudices  of  sense 
and  time  wUicli  arrogantly  usurp  its  name.  The  former — ■ 
the  variety  and  seeming  proximity  of  the  moral  states  iu 
which  men  leave  this  world — led,  as  we  all  know,  to  the 
more  popular,  but  hardly  more  satisfactory,  hypothesis  of 
purgatory. 

Circumstances  are  now  making  the  controversy  with 
Eome  of  special  interest,  and  I  may  therefore  succeed  in 
interesting  you  with  some  general  considerations  on  the 
latter  of  these  solutions.  I  shall  then  attempt  to  offer 
some  observations  (equally  general)  on  the  other  topic — 
the  great  doctrine  itself  of  the  eternity  of  punishment, 
and  the  difficulties,  whether  real  or  supposed,  that  at- 
tend it. 

I.  Without  at  all  undertaking  (for  which  we  have  now 
no  time,  nor  can  you  possibly  need  it)  to  expose  the  well- 
known  pretences  of  Scripture  authority  for  the  tenet  of  a 
state  of  future  temporary  punishment  of  sin,  let  me  ask 
you  to  consider  how  far,  even  as  an  hypothesis,  it  really 
meets  the  difficulty  it  professes  to  relieve. 

The  difficulty  is  this, — that  between  the  lowest  spirit 
that  is  saved  and  the  best  that  is  lost,  the  moral  difference 
must  be  immeasurably  smaller  than  the  tremendous  dif- 
ference of  doom — an  eternity  of  happiness  and  an  eternity 
of  woe. 

The  Scripture  account  of  the  case  is  far  indeed  from 
removing  all  mystery,  but  it  certainly  tends  to  alleviate 
the  difficulty.  Scripture  most  plainly  intimates  that  there 
are  to  be  degrees  both  of  reward  and  of  punishment  in  the 
two  spheres  of  future  existence :  so  that,  as  regards  the 
individual  varieties  iu  each  of  these  two  great  classes,  the 
difficulty  altogether  ceases.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that 
between  the  two  classes  themselves,  and  so,  between  the 
individuals  at  each  side  next  the  awful  boundary-line  that 
separates  them,  it  leaves  the  distinction  and  the  difficulty ; 
"a  great  gulf  is  fixed."    When  Dr  Paley  conjectures  that 


SERM.  XXVI.] 


Eternal  Puriishmml. 


387 


the  difference  of  condition  in  this  case  may  be  as  slight  as 
the  differences  of  moral  character, — -if  he  mean  the  differ- 
ences apparent  to  us,  and  if  he  would  thus  indefinitel}'' 
approximate  the  states  themselves,  he  surely  forgets  the 
plainest  and  most  unequivocal  declarations  of  that  record 
from  which  alone  we  can  learn  anything  at  all  with  cer- 
taint}''  on  the  subject. 

But  now,  were  we  to  grant  the  purgatorial  scheme, 
(which  has  hardly  any  merit  at  all  except  as  it  helps  us  in 
this  strait,  and  probably  owed  most  of  its  original  currency 
to  its  supposed  utility  for  that  purpose,)  should  we  be  really 
advanced?  The  question,  we  have  seen,  is  not  as  to  the 
differences  that  shall  exist  between  individuals  of  the  good 
and  evil  classes  respect! veh'',  but  altogether  turns  upon  that 
tremendous  point  where  the  utterly  lost  and  the  saved  are 
disjoined  from  each  other.  But  this  difficulty  the  hypo- 
thesis of  a  purgatory  only  disguises  and  postpones;  for  it 
must  surely  be  manifest,  that  it  applies  with  undiminished 
force  to  the  boundary  that  divides  the  worst  sufferers  in 
purgatory  from  the  incalculably  more  terrific  doom  of  the 
least  criminal  who  is  to  endure  the  eternity  of  hell.  Nay — 
it  aggravates  the  difficulty,  by  the  very  attempt  to  establish 
a  proportion  where  it  is  manifest  no  proportion  can  sub- 
sist; for  assuredly  no  ingenuity  can  ever  make  commen- 
surable an  eternal  separation  from  God  in  misery,  and  any 
punishment,  however  intense,  that  terminates  before  the 
judgment. 

This  doctrine,  however,  having  been  of  late  specially 
noted  as  one  of  the  peculiar  and  incomparable  advantages 
of  the  Koman  theology,  I  am  induced  to  offer  a  few  further 
observations  on  its  claims — still  restricting  myself  to  its 
merits  as  an  hypothesis,  and  without  any  discussion  of  the 
special  passages  alleged  as  Scripture  confirmations. 

The  object  of  this  supposed  state  is  twofold — punitive 
and  purificatory.  The  former  I  despatch  in  a  word.  There 
is  not  the  shadow  of  evidence  in  the  Christian  Revelation 


388 


Eternal  Punishment.  [serm.  XXVI. 


for  the  principle  that  punishment  is  ever  reserved  after 
complete  Divine  pardon.  The  very  object  of  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  was  just  to  prevent  this  necessity;  to  make 
punitive  justice  (temporal  or  eternal  is  incidental,  not 
essential,  to  the  idea)  compatible  with  absolute  love ;  and 
any  theology  whicli  maintains  that  further  punishment  as 
such  (ratione  poena))  is  demanded  by  God,  unquestionably 
so  far  substitutes  a  personal  atonement  for  tlie  atonement  of 
Christ.  I  suppose  I  need  hardly  observe  that  this  has  no 
concern  with,  the  very  different  question,  how  far  a  man 
may  usefully  adopt  self-mortifying  habits ;  or  God  in  His 
mercy  send  a  corrective  and  disciplinary  evil,  "  chastening 
whom  He  loveth;"  or  God  permit  the  natural  results  of 
moral  evil  to  follow  after  forgiving  sin — results  which  He 
could  only  suspend  by  miracle.  The  question  is  simply 
whether  He  inflicts  punishment  on  the  forgiven  iu  the  same 
sense  in  which  He  inflicts  hell  on  the  damned,  though  less 
in  intensity  and  duration.  This  is  what  we  repudiate  as 
inconsistent  with  the  whole  tenor  of  Eevelation.  He  who 
bore  any  penalty  of  sin,  bore  it  all. 

The  question  becomes  perhaps  more  interesting  when  we 
canvass  the  hypothesis  on  the  other  ground.  For  it  might 
be  alleged,  that  even  supposing  a  true  spiritual  vitality 
possessed  by  a  soul  departing  in  a  state  of  grace,  yet  pain 
may  be  required  for  its  perfection ;  a  pain  not  sufficiently 
experienced — as  (suppose)  in  a  case  of  very  late  conversion 
— during  its  earthly  course.  Now  in  the  first  place,  I 
would  remind  you  of  the  exceeding  peril  of  constructing 
fundamental  and  necessary  doctrine  out  of  such  mere 
speculation  as  this ;  speculation  too  in  a  region  (the  nature, 
attributes,  occupations,  opportunities,  of  departed  spirits) 
where  we  are  so  utterly  ignorant  of  the  very  elements  out 
of  which  alone  we  could  form  any  conclusive  judgment. 
In  the  next  place,  that  cases  are  by  these  theologians  them- 
selves maintained,  (baptism,  martyrdom)  where  this  sup- 
posed necessity  is  altogether  abandoned ;  and  the  convert 


SERil.  XXVI.]  Eternal  Punishment.  389 

of  a  week  or  a  day  conceived  to  be  translated  instanta- 
neously to  the  presence  of  God.  But  waiviog  this,  let 
us  examine  the  speculation  itself  We  admit  that  in  good 
men  affliction  has  its  uses  on  earth;  that  it  prevents  attach- 
ment to  the  world,  that  it  lowers  pride,  that  it  exercises 
faith,  that  it  tries  fidelity,  that  it  refines  from  fleshly  luxu- 
ries, that  it  habituates  to  resignation.  Now  which  of  these 
"  uses  of  adversity''  can  clearly  apply  to  the  supposition  of 
intermediate  purification  by  pain, — can  apply  to  it,  I  say, 
in  preference  to  the  exalting  effects,  which  I  presume  will 
hardly  be  denied,  of  the  society  of  the  blessed,  and  the 
similar  instrumentalities  which  may  be  assumed  to  operate 
on  the  supposition  of  the  immediate  translation  of  the 
saved  to  real  or  expected  glory  ?  To  imagine  that  severe 
pain  can  be  needful  to  a  man  who  has  died  a  sincere  and 
accepted  servant  of  Christ,  and  is  now  in  the  very  world 
of  holiness,  in  order  to  wean  his  desires  from  the  miserable 
shadows  he  has  left  for  ever, — or  again,  in  order  to  impress 
the  guilt  of  sin,  and  lower  the  proud  independence  of  one 
who  has  already  believed  on  the  sacrifice,  and  now  beholds 
the  sovereign  glory,  of  Christ, — or  to  exercise  his  faith, 
the  faith  of  one  who  has  now  passed  the  sphere  of  faith, 
and  stands  in  the  very  presence  and  contact  of  reality, — or 
to  put  his  fidelity  to  proof,  while  it  is  admitted  he  cannot 
fail  and  knows  he  cannot, — or  to  reduce  the  tyranny  of  the 
flesh  in  a  disembodied  spirit : — all  these  are  notions  which 
seem  incompatible  at  once  with  the  state  of  grace  in  which 
the  subject  of  them  is  presupposed  to  have  died,  and  with 
the  possible  or  probable  operations  of  mere  pain  in  the 
circumstances  proper  to  a  departed  spirit.  On  the  closest 
scrutiny,  I  can  discover  no  result  of  benefit  which  such 
suffering  could  be  reasonably  expected  to  produce,  except 
that  it  might  perhaps  confirm  that  practical  habit  of  resig- 
nation to  the  will  of  God,  which,  as  our  great  philosophic 
theologian  has  observed,  may  be  useful  in  producing  a 
temper  suitable  to  the  world  of  blessedness.    But  on  this 

33* 


390 


Eternal  Punishment.         [serm.  xxvi. 


plea  (sliould  it  be  ofl'crcd)  I  woiild  observe,  first,  that  it  is 
most  daring  of  us  to  assume  that  God  cannot  mature  the 
conformity  of  a  true  and  accepted  believer's  will  to  His 
own,  except  by  a  process  of  protracted  sufieriug;  it  being 
in  itself  clearly  attainable  through  the  quickening  efficacy 
of  increased  spiritual  knowledge  and  holy  joy.  Next — 
that  the  sufferer  is  himself  as  far  from  "rejoicing  in  tribu- 
lation," that  he  is  supposed  to  be  earnestly  longing  and 
praying  for  his  own  release  ;  for  that  which  the  Church  is 
commanded  to  do  on  his  behalf  on  earth,  it  must  of  course 
be  legitimate  for  him  to  do  personally  in  purgatory.  Again, 
— that  the  fact  of  knowing  himself  ultimately  and  un- 
changeably secure  of  heaven  must  greatly  weaken  the  dis- 
cipline of  humiliation,  which  with  us  so  largely  depends 
on  the  possibility  of  failure,  and  the  vigilance  perpetually 
required  to  "  make  the  calling  and  election  sure."  Nor 
indeed  this  alone,  for  he  is  certain  of  bearing  the  discipline 
itself  well,  as  otherwise  the  purgatorial  sin  of  insubordina- 
tion would  deserve  that  more  terrible  doom  from  which  he 
is  supposed  to  be  absolutely  safe, — -a  certainty  both  present 
and  future,  which  must  be  admitted  likely  to  enervate  the 
efficacy  of  this  purgatorial  discipline  of  resignation.  Pain 
indeed  with  an  absolute  certainty  of  salvation,  and  pain 
with  an  absolute  despair  of  it,  seem  equally  unfitted  for 
purposes  of  discipline.  I  would  add,  that  the  moral  effi- 
cacy of  mere  pain  is,  in  itself,  so  doubtful,  that  it  requires 
great  grace  from  God  to  prevent  its  injuring  instead  of 
improving  the  temper  of  the  sufferer;  and  surely  the  same 
expenditure  of  grace  would  be  at  least  as  competent  to 
insure  the  same  exalting  results  in  the  world  of  happiness. 
Suppose  Divine  grace  refused,  and  the  man  will  grow  worse 
rather  than  better  among  the  horrors  of  purgatory;  sup- 
pose it  granted,  and  the  perfection  of  his  nature  may  as 
well  be  consummated  under  the  energy  of  that  grace  amid 
the  joys  and  the  sanctities  of  heaven. 

So  much  then  for  the  speculative  or  philosophical  merits 


SEEM.  XXVI.]         Eternal  Punishment. 


891 


of  tlie  hypothesis  of  purgatory;  an  hypothesis  which  origi- 
nating no  doubt  in  a  strong  sense  of  real  difficulties  intro- 
duces more  difficulties  than  it  solves ;  which,  above  all, 
leaves  wholly  unremoved  that  great  and  awful  difficulty 
already  mentioned  which  no  imaginary  protraction  of 
graduated  pain  can  ever  even  partially  lighten,  as  long  as 
time  in  all  the  multitude  of  its  ages  remains  still  incom- 
mensurable with  eternity.  There  is  no  comfort  in  those 
unsubstantial  shadows  which  the  impatient  curiosity,  or  the 
secret  terrors,  of  man  have  interposed  between  himself  and 
the  inevitable  truth.  They  leave  us  unsheltered,  unre- 
prieved;  naked  and  trembling  before  the  terrible  simplicity 
of  Revelation,  of  those  unambiguous  Oracles  in  which  that 
God  who  is  "a  consuming  fire"  hath  described  Himself  in 
the  very  volume  of  mercy  as  bidding  "  the  cursed  into  ever- 
lasting fire,"  into  a  "fire  that  is  not  quenched,"  that  is 
"unquenchable,"  whose  "smoke  ascendeth  up  for  ever," 
whose  "  torment  is  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever." 

II.  I  have  hinted  already,  and  I  repeat  it,  that  were  it 
possible  for  man's  imagination  to  conceive  the  horrors  of 
such  a  doom  as  this,  all  reasoning  about  it  were  at  an  end ; 
it  would  scorch  and  wither  all  the  powers  of  human 
thought.  Iluman  life  were  at  a  stand,  could  these  things 
be  really  felt  as  they  deserve.  Even  for  him  who  can 
humbly  trust  himself,  comparatively  secure  in  faith  and 
obedience,  were  the  thin  veil  of  this  poor  shadowy  life 
suddenly  undrawn,  and  those  immortal  agonies,  that  never- 
dying  death,  made  known  in  the  way  of  direct  perception, 
— and  those,  it  may  be,  that  ^uch  a  one,  with  the  keen 
sympathies  so  characteristic  of  the  Christian,  loves  and 
values,  seen  to  be  at  last  among  the  victims  of  that  irre- 
parable doom, — can  we  doubt  that  he  would  come  forth 
with  intellect  blanched  and  idealess  from  a  sight  too 
terrible  for  any  whose  faculties  are  not  on  the  scale  of 
eternity  itself?  It  is  God's  mercy  that  we  can  believe 
what  adequately  to  conceive  were  death. 


392 


Eternal  Punishment.  [serm.  xxvi. 


Let  us  take  advantage  of  tliis  merciful  dispensation  :  let 
us  dare  to  speak  about  these  eternal  miseries  as  matter  to 
which  reason  may  address  itself,  Avith  awe  indeed,  but,  as 
yet,  without  being  utterly  lost  and  consumed  in  the  terri- 
ble truth  it  contemplates. 

It  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  Christian  mysteries,  that 
though  they  be  separately  impenetrable  there  is  a  won- 
drous consistency  among  them  all.  Each  member  of  the 
system  is  incomprehensible,  but  it  is  seen  to  be  a  system 
still.  We  can  feel,  even  by  the  little  we  do  see  of  their 
bearing,  that  there  is  some  remote  centre  far  away  in 
infinity  to  which  they  all  converge;  some  heliocentric 
point  (so  to  speak)  from  which,  could  we  gain  it,  the 
whole  vast  system  would  be  seen  to  revolve  in  perfect 
simplicity.  It  is  thus,  that  while  on  the  one  hand  ap- 
palled and  perplexed  with  the  eternity  of  punishment,  we 
can  yet  see  it  to  be  but  the  counterpart  of  that  other 
mystery  of  the  unspeakable  malignity  of  sin,  which  itself 
is  demonstrated  by  that  third  tremendous  mystery  of  the 
Divine  Atonement  it  required.  Doubtless,  then,  the  true 
ground  of  the  equity  of  this  most  awful  dispensation  of 
punishment  is  to  be  found  in  the  infinite  criminality  of  sin 
— of  the  voluntary  contradiction  by  any  subordinate  will 
of  the  supreme  all-righteous  Will  of  the  Universe  ;  which 
we  may  well  conceive  to  involve  in  it  something  incom- 
parably more  fearful  than  our  miserable  familiarity  with 
the  fiict  ever  allows  us  practically  to  realize.  It  may  also 
be  considered  (as  our  great  divine  Jackson  has  forcibly 
reasoned.  Book  xi.)  that  the  punishment  in  this  case  is  not 
merely  in  proportion  to  sin,  but  in  proportion  to  the  par-, 
allel  eternity  of  glory  offered.  It  is  the  punishment  of 
beings  to  whom  eternal  life  has  been  tendered,  and  by 
whom  it  has  been  rejected,  of  beings  who  have  had  an 
option,  and  have  taken  their  choice.  "  Tliis  is  the  condem- 
nation, that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  dark- 
ness rather  tlian  light."    It  must  be  obvious  that  against 


SERir.  XXVI.]  Eternal  Punishment. 


393 


any  enormously  long  and  severe  punisliment  (and  hardly 
any  interpreter  can  pretend  that  Scripture  does  not  at 
least  affirm  that)  similar  difficulties  in  point  of  mere  human 
estimates  of  equity  would  arise — a  consideration  plainly 
evincing  that  the  guilt  of  sin  is  something  vastly  beyond 
our  apprehensions;  and  this  once  fairly  admitted,  what 
proof  have  we  that  it  is  not  in  the  fullest  sense  infinitely 
beyond  them ;  that  is  to  say,  such  that  no  finite  punish- 
ment can  exhaust  its  real  deserts?  And  as  the  punish- 
ment deserved  and  atonement  accepted  are  in  all  ordinary 
conceptions  of  even  human  justice  strictly  correspondent, 
1  am  sure  I  need  not  again  remind  you  how  the  infinite 
dignity  of  the  atonement  our  sin  required  does  in  the  most 
awful  and  impressive  manner  corroborate  this  view;  for 
the  sin  which  deserved  but  temporal  punishment  a  created 
nature  might  atone  ;  a  Divine  expiation  infers  a  boundless 
guilt  and  boundless  demerit;  so  that,  terrific  as  is  the 
dreadful  truth  we  preach,  it  is  most  manifest  that  the 
harmony  of  the  revealed  system  is  utterly  lost  without  it. 
These  are  mysteries  indeed,  but  mysteries  mutually  related, 
and  that  suppose  and  demand  each  other  ;  these  arc  depths, 
no  doubt,  but  even  so,  "deep  calhth  unto  deep." 

Still — that  an  everlasting  state  should  be  made  wholly 
to  depend  on  so  brief  a  period,  the  fortunes  of  an  eternity 
to  turn  upon  the  little  dreamlike  moment  of  this  prelimi- 
nary existence — this,  it  may  be  said,  seems  only  the  more 
overwhelming,  the  more  we  attain  to  fitting  conceptions  of 
eternity  itself.  Mysterious  it  is  indeed,  yet  no  wholly  un- 
paralleled mystery.  The  case  stands  thus:  In  the  present 
state  means  are  given  for  the  formation  of  a  variety  of  cha- 
racters; the  distinction  of  the  future  states  is,  that  they 
admit  of  but  one  respectively,  and  that  permanent,  for 
everlasting.  Now  as  far  as  anything  temporal  can  shadow 
forth  the  eternal,  common  experience  furnishes  numberless 
instances  of  the  very  same  principle,  of  short  periods  de- 
termining periods  indefinitely  long ;  the  brief  but  trying 


394 


Internal  Punishment. 


[sERM.  xxvr. 


stage  of  infancy  onco  past,  health  becomes  comparatively 
secure:  nay,  upon  the  briefer  period  antecedent  to  birth, 
(and  which  presents  so  many  striking  analogies  to  our 
entire  present  state  on  earth,  as  related  to  the  future  state,) 
how  largely  health,  and  life  itself,  depend.  The  same 
general  principle  really  seems  to  operate  through  the  whole 
organized  creation ;  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  the  seed 
which  a  worm  might  destroy  while  beneath  the  soil,  once 
but  a  little  above  it,  expands  into  a  tree  of  ages,  the 
parent  it  may  be  of  a  forest.  In  every  "  critical  case" 
(as  we  term  it),  of  whatever  kind,  we  have  the  same  phe- 
nomenon repeated;  minute  diligence  for  a  short  period 
settles  things  for  an  indefinite  one,  for  a  period  which,  if  we 
take  in  all  the  indirect  results  of  human  action,  may  be 
styled  literally  endless.  Indeed  that  even  upon  the  merest 
trifles  immense  results  perpetually  depend,  is  proverbial. 
Take  one  dozen  great  names — names  of  men  Avhose  birth 
was  itself  the  merest  contingency;  blot  those  twelve  names 
— those  twelve  accidents — from  the  annals  of  mankind — 
twelve  out  of  countless  millions ;  and  you  alter,  perhaps 
reverse,  the  whole  history  of  the  world.  Not,  however,  to 
press  this, — we  cannot  on  the  whole  fail  to  see  how  the 
principle  of  brief  exertion,  determining  immense  results  of 
happiness  or  misery,  constantly  applies  to  our  own  daily 
life.  The  soul,  if  it  be  indeed  immortal,  must  be  of  some 
character  and  some  destiny,  both  dependent  on  some  deter- 
mining cause ;  and  no  possible  reason  can  be  assigned  why 
that  character  and  that  destiny  may  not  be  finally  deter- 
mined now,  at  least  as  Avell  as  at  any  other  period  of  its 
endless  existence. 

But  there  is  a  point  of  view  from  which  the  whole  of 
this  awful  dispensation  of  punishment  appears  conceivable 
with  comparative  simplicity;  in  which  its  miseries  may 
be  seen  to  enter  into  the  course  of  natural  justice;  and  be- 
come directly  proportional  to  the  guilt  they  avenge.  The 
view  which  I  am  about  to  present  seems  to  me  to  cast  a 


SERir.  XXVI.]         Eternal  Punishment. 


395 


real  though  a  fearful  light  upon  the  horrors  of  this  doom, 
making  them  at  once  more  intelligible,  and  more  terrific, 
than  before. 

It  cannot  then  be  doubted  that  the  character  of  ungod- 
liness with  which  the  lost  spirit  leaves  this  world  is  per- 
petuated to  the  state  of  being  that  follows  it.*  But  much 
more  than  this  is  too  awfully  probable.  The  aggravating 
effect  of  mutual  association  in  vice,  the  corrupting  example 
of  matured  and  hardened  wickedness, — and,  above  all,  the 
desolating  influence  of  utter  despair, — are  facts  notorious 
in  the  present  world,  miserably  notorious  in  our  own 
prisons  and  penal  settlements ;  but  which  must  be  exhibited 
on  a  gigantic  scale,  in  the  region  of  hopeless  and  abandoned 
depravity  of  which,  with  fear  and  trembling,  I  now  dare 
to  speak.  The  total  absence  of  all  Divine  grace  leaving 
every  evil  propensity  to  rank  luxuriance,  the  presence  of 
all  the  accursed  stimulants  to  desperate  impiety,  must 
surely  combine  to  make  the  sinner,  the  punished  sinner  of 
this  life,  progressively,  unceasingly,  the  everlasting  sinner 
of  the  life  that  succeeds  it.  In  this  way  of  conceiving 
them,  the  punishments  of  hell  are  but  the  perpetual  ven- 
geance that  accompanies  the  sins  of  hell.  An  eternity  of 
wickedness  brings  with  it  an  eternity  of  woe.  The  sinner 
is  to  suffer  for  everlasting,  but  it  is  because  the  sin  itself  is 
as  everlasting  as  the  siiffering. 

It  is  manifest  that  this  is  but  to  prolong  the  very  con- 
nection (of  moral  and  physical  evil)  we  all  believe  to  bo 
realized  here.  Nor  can  any  objection  to  its  probability, 
or  its  justice,  be  alleged  which  would  not  equally  apply  to 
the  punishments  of  time,  indeed  to  the  idea  of  punishment 
at  all.  The  supposition  on  which  it  turns — the  perpetua- 
tion of  sin  itself  in  the  world  of  suffering — is  so  far  from 
requiring  proof,  that  proof  would  really  be  required  to 

*  See  on  this  Aquin.  Seutent  IV.  Dist.  GO : 
"  Si  mali  in  inferno  peccabunt." 


396 


Eternal  Punishment.         [serm.  xxvi. 


establish  the  contrary.  They  who  start  at  the  disproportion 
of  an  eternal  punishment  to  a  temporary  sin,  cannot  deny 
the  proportion  when  the  sin  and  the  punishment  are  alike 
eternal;  when  the  surrender  of  the  soul  to  the  moral  evil 
it  has  chosen  (a  principle  universally  recognized  in  Scrip- 
ture) is  made  the  direct  punishment  of  its  earthly  choice, 
and  all  else  follows  in  the  way  of  exact  and  proportioned 
penalty:  while  if  it  be  urged  —  wildly  urged  —  that  the 
sufferer  might  be  annihilated,  and  so  the  miserable  bond  of 
wickedness  and  woe  dissolved  for  ever, — we  reply,  so  too 
he  might  never  have  existed ;  at  any  moment  you  select  in 
the  countless  ages  to  come,  how  should  that  wretched  spirit 
cease  to  exist  on  any  ground  which  will  not  be  as  applica- 
ble to  any  other  period,  or  which  will  not  equally  show  he 
ought  never  to  have  existed  at  all? 

There  are  one  or  two  reasons  why  this  mode  of  con- 
ceiving the  dreadful  subject  before  us  seems  to  me  to  be 
eminently  impressive  and  practical ;  and  with  them  I  shall 
conclude. 

In  the  first  place,  it  strongly  illustrates  (what  so  often 
perplexes  even  good  and  pious  men)  the  tremendous  doom 
of  the  merely  ivorldly — the  special  object  of  the  awful 
narrative  in  the  Gospel  of  this  day.  For  it  must  in  this 
view  be  evident,  that  no  high  visible  manifestation  or 
development  of  earthly  wickedness  is  at  all  needed  to 
produce  the  terrible  results  I  speak  of,  any  more  than  it 
is  necessary  that  in  any  ordinary  case  a  man  should  heyin 
with  absolute  depravity.  It  is  quite  enough  that  there  be 
in  him  the  unexpressed,  but  real  and  habitual,  choice  of 
this  world  and  its  common  corruptions  as  his  portion,  the 
deadncss  to  celestial  motives,  the  mind  that  is  after  the 
flesh.  Such  a  man  has  in  substance  made  his  election. 
He  who  dies  with  this  predisposition  of  the  inward  moral 
state  is  plainly  unfit  for  heaven.  And  if  you  hesitate  (as 
perhaps  we  are  all  at  times  tempted  to  do)  to  pronounce 
him  directly  deserving  of  eternal  suffering,  you  cannot 


SERM.  XXVI,] 


Eternal  Punishment. 


397 


surely  fail  to  see  that  he  has  in  him  the  deadly  germ  of 
an  unrighteousness,  that,  when  all  restraints  are  removed 
— hope  and  fear  and  reputation  and  the  rest, — and  all  the 
fostering  influences  of  a  climate  of  perpetual  sin  present 
and  active,  will  inevitably  quicken  into  that  full  maturity 
of  wickedness  for  which  misery  as  enduring  as  itself  is  the 
appropriate  doom.  The  voluptuary  in  the  parable  retained 
still  some  of  the  better  natural  elements  of  humanity;  "I 
have  five  brethren,"  was  the  intercession  of  no  unamiable 
compassion.  How  long  he  retained  even  that  poor  relic  of 
the  boasted  social  virtues  of  this  life — the  virtues  whose 
imaginary  excellency  perhaps  flattered  him  to  his  ruin,- — 
they  can  conjecture  who  remember  how  the  misery  of 
utter  despair  (history — nay  our  own  observation — abounds 
with  such  revelations)  can  wither  every  natural  affection, 
trample  out  the  very  rudiments  of  our  humanity,  and 
almost  make  us  in  this  world  the  conscienceless  demons 
whose  nature  and  presence  is  the  worst  horror  we  can 
conceive  in  the  world  to  come ! 

But  again,  and  closely  connected  with  this,  the  repre- 
sentation I  have  submitted  is  calculated  to  impress  on  us 
all  the  necessity  of  an  infinitely  severer  scrutiny  of  the 
real  bias  of  our  own  nature  than  we  are  habituated,  or  the 
world  (a  sharer  in  our  corruption)  ever  prompts  us  to 
make.  The  question,  as  I  have  exhibited  it,  will  not  be 
what  I  am,  but  what  I  am  formed  to  become:  not,  what 
gross  evil,  with  all  the  weight  of  social  restraints  (like 
that  of  the  atmosphere  unfelt  because  universal)  pressing 
me  on  all  sides,  I  actually  escape,  but  what,  were  these 
removed  and  I  alone  with  only  my  faith  and  fear  of  God 
to  control  me,  I  would  overcome.  In  this  view  sudden 
temptation  sometimes  effects  frightful  disclosures.  It  is 
commonly  said,  that  such  temptations  are  eminently  ex- 
cusable, because  temporary  surprises,  isolated  facts,  that 
have  no  influence  on,  and  give  little  indication  of,  our 
average  state.  I  doubt  thi.s  position.  More  frequently 
VOL.  II. — 34. 


398 


Elern  a  I  Punish  m  en  t. 


[SERM.  XXVI, 


are  tliey  disclosures  of  what  has  all  along  been  our  state, 
latent  from  lack  of  opportunity,  but  now  suddenly  starting 
into  manifestation  the  instant  the  appropriate  occasion  is 
offered.  It  is  this  that  justifies,  I  fear,  to  the  full,  those 
delineations  of  human  corruption  which  are  so  often  charg- 
ed with  exaggeration.  The  true  test  and  estimate  of  man 
is  not  what  he  does,  but  what  with  his  present  principles 
he  jvould  do.  The  petty  corruption  you  dismiss  as  venial 
is  AO  far  a  preference  of  evil  to  good ;  the  deadliest  sin  is 
no  more.  But  take  this  petty  corruption  with  you  from 
the  world ;  bring  it  and  all  your  self-forgiven  weaknesses 
when  they  shall  have  scope  to  prove  their  real  nature;  and 
even  as  by  the  contemplation  of  God  (as  His  inspired  ser- 
vants tell  us),  the  blessed  "  are  changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory,"  "like  Him,  because  seeing  Him  as 
He  is ;"  so,  doubtless,  by  the  presence,  and  the  contact,  and 
the  fellowship  of  evil,  the  wretched,  irresolute  disciple,  not 
wholly  saved  and  therefore  wholly  lost,  rapidly  in  that 
dread  abode  darkens  into  the  likeness  he  contemplates, 
loses  each  faint  fading  ray  of  good,  assimilated  at  length 
and  absorbed  into  hopeless  heartless  misery  that  surrounds 
him  for  evermore. 

And  here  let  me  close  a  theme  which  no  man  can 
approach  without  reluctance  or  leave  without  relief.  But 
those  terrors  which  the  Great  Physician,  amid  all  His 
tenderness,  deemed  needful  for  the  treatment  of  our  dis- 
ease, let  us.  His  ministers,  beware  how  we  disguise;  let 
those  who  hear,  with  salutary  awe  receive.  And  as  he 
who  delivers  these  truths,  is,  after  all,  himself,  quite  as 
much  as  others,  a  bearer  of  his  own  message,  so  must  he 
feel  and  acknowledge  a  deep  peril  lest,  in  the  very  act  of 
investigating  and  methodizing  such  truths,  he  become  too 
familiar  for  reverence,  and  lose  in  the  exercises  of  the 
understanding  some  degree  of  tliat  holy  fear  which  they 
who,  without  reasoning,  retain,  are  happier  far  than  mere 
reasoning  could  ever  make  them.    And  therefore,  what- 


SERM.  XXVI.]  Eternal  Punishment. 


399 


ever  be  the  fate  of  human  speculations  on  tliis  tremendous 
topic,  be  it  ours  to  cultivate  the  simplicity  of  faith  which 
is  independent  of  them.  Even  though  in  its  vastness 
and  mystery  it  continue  to  rebuke  our  feeble  reason,  let  it 
stand  in  the  naked  simplicity  of  fact ;  a  truth  great,  and 
terrible,  and  certain ;  planted  deep  in  the  nature  of  God's 
attributes,  and  therefore  unfathomable  as  all  things  are 
that  are  of  Him;  but  withal,  addressing  itself  to  the 
simplest  and  strongest  feelings  of  man,  his  dread  of  pain, 
his  horror  of  shame  and  misery  and  death ;  meeting  him 
at  every  turn  to  evil,  and  casting  a  fearful  shadow  across 
those  pleasures  that  are  not  of  God,  and  those  glories 
where  God's  glory  is  forgotten  ;  meeting  you,  my  younger 
brethren,  at  the  first  fatal  steps  upon  that  course  which 
ends  in  the  abyss  of  woe  it  denounces,  and  warning  you 
at  once  to  flee  the  bondage  of  seductions  which  grow  as 
they  are  obeyed  and  strengthen  with  every  victory ; — 
warning  you  that  all  the  temporal  results  of  sin — the 
shame  of  detection,  the  loss  of  reputation,  the  ruin  of 
prospects,  the  destruction  of  health,  the  early  grave — all 
are  but  shadows  of  the  overwhelming  penalty  it  brings, 
when  the  mercy,  which  still  restrains  to  these  limits  the 
fulness  of  Divine  vengeance,  shall  have  ceased ;  and  the 
sin  and  the  punishment  which  are  now  but  temporary, 
passing  together  into  the  world  of  eternity,  and,  still  as 
ever  bound  in  inseparable  links,  shall  become  themselves 
alike  eternal ! 


THE  END. 


V 


PARRY   &   M  MILLAN'S  niBLICATIONS. 


Sermons,  Doctrinal  and  Practical. 

By  the  Rev.  William  Archer  Butler,  A.M.,  late  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Dubliu.  Edited  by  the  very  Rev. 
Thomas  Woodward,  A.M.,  Dean  of  Down.  First  Series.  From  the 
Third  London  edition.    1  vol.  crown  8vo.    Cloth,    .       .       .  §1.25 

Contexts  :— Uncertainty  of  Christ's  Coming— The  Incarnation— Daily  Self-denial  of  Christ — 
Crucifying  the  Son  of  God  afresh — The  Power  of  the  Resurrection — The  Trinity  disclosed 
in  the  Structure  of  St.  John's  Writings — Muctness  for  the  Inheritance  of  the  Saints  in 
I.i;;ht — Occasional  mysteriousness  of  Christ's  Teaching — Christ  our  Life— Self  delusion  as 
to  our  r  'al  state  before  God — The  Eternal  Life  of  Christ  in  Heaven — TheCanaanite  Woman 
a  type  of  the  Gentile  Church — The  Faith  of  Man  and  the  Faithfulness  of  God — The  Wed- 
ding Garment — Christ  sought  and  found  in  the  Old  Ti'Stament  Scriptures — Human  Afflic- 
tions raised,  not  destroyed,  by  the  Gospel — The  Rest  of  the  People  of  God— Christ  the 
Treasury  of  W  isdom  and  Knowledge— The  Divinity  of  our  Priest,  Prophet  and  King — 
Kxpediency  of  Christ's  Invisibility — The  Invisible  Government  of  Christ  through  His 
Spirit — Christ's  Departure  the  Condition  of  the  Spirit's  Advent — The  Faith  that  cometh 
by  Hearing — The  Christian's  Walk  in  Light  and  Love — Primitive  Church  Principles  not 
incoDSistcut  with  Universal  Christian  Sympathy. 

"  Present  a  richer  combination  of  the  qualities  for  Sermons  of  the  first  class  than  any  we 
iave  met  with  in  any  living  writer." — British  <^imrifylij. 

"One  destined,  if  we  mistake  not,  to  take  the  highest  place  among  the  writers  of  our 
English  tongue." — A'orWi  British  Ileview,  Feb.  1851!. 

•'  iMay  justly  take  rank  with  the  first  writings  in  our  language." — Theologian. 

'■  An  eminent  divine  and  a  profound  thin'.<er." — Knglish  SevifW. 

'■Poet,  orator,  metapliy.^iician,  theologian." — Dublin  UnivcrsUy  Magazine. 

*'  A  burning  and  a  .'■hining  light  " — Bishop  of  K:rdt*,r. 

'•A  man  of  whom  Ixjih  as  regards  his  life  and  his  remarkable  powers,  his  church  may 
justly  be  proud." — Uuardiim. 

"Entitled  to  stand  in  the  front  rank,  not  merely  of  ministers  of  the  Irish  church,  hut  of 
the  wisest  and  best  teachers  of  all  denominations," —  Westrynn  Mtigaeine. 

•'  Discrimination  and  earn(  stiietis,  beauty  and  power,  a  truly  philosophical  spirit."— British 
Quarierly. 


Mornings  with  Jesus. 

A  series  of  Devotional  Readings  for  the  Closet  and  the  Family  for  every 
day  in  the  year,  carefully  prepared  from  notes  of  sermons  preached 
by  the  late  Rev.  Wm.  Jay,  of  Bath.  1  vol.  crown  8vo.  Cloth,  gilt,  $1.25 

"  The  Rev.  Wm.  Jay  was  the  clergyman  whom  John  Foster,  the  celebrated  essayist,  en- 
titled -the  prince  of  preachers.'  Judging  from  this  volume,  the  very  skeleton  (^f  his  dis- 
course has  more  energy  than  the  entire  body  of  some  men's  pulpit  oratory." — Com.  Adv. 

■■  These  Readings  breathe  a  Bpirit  of  genuine  piety,  and  their  lone  is  catholic  and 
healthful." — Kvening  Argus. 

"  Charmingly  adapted  to  private  and  family  reading.  The  Sunday  School  teacher  will 
find  it  an  invaluable  assistant." — City  Item. 

"This  well  printed  volume  contains  numerous  expositions  of  the  sacred  scriptures, 
marked  by  the  originality  and  naturalness  of  manner,  the  perspicuity  and  impn-ssivcness 
of  style,  the  evangelical  and  experimental  savour,  the  fullness  and  felicity  of  illustration, 
which  were  characteristic  of  the  discourses  of  their  pious  and  eloquent  author.  Cli  arness 
of  thought,  vigor  of  expression,  Ixjldness  in  the  utterance  of  truth,  and  earnestness  both 
of  persuasion  and  denunciation,  are  traits  in  which  they  eminently  excel." — N.  Am. 

"The  brief  mejitations  composing  the  volume  arc  pervaded  with  some  of  the  best 
characteristics  of  .Mr.  Jay's  style,  and  will  not  disa[jpoint  tlie  devout  reader." — Probytirian. 

'■These  meditations  arc,  like  everything  from  the  pen,  or  the  lijis,  of  William  Juy,  prac- 
tical, evangelical,  apt,  and  often  strikingly  beautiful.  *  *  *  *  Full  of  pious  and  excellent 
thought,  and  well  fitted  to  be  read  in  conuection  with  the  devotions  of  either  the  family  or 
the  closet." — Puritan  Recorder. 

•'There  is  a  peculiar  freshness  about  these  pages  which  gives  them  a  charm  superior 
to  almost  any  other  of  the  productions  of  Mr.  Jay." — N.  Y.  Observer. 

■'Christians,  who  know  the  worth  of  evangelical  truth,  will  value  it  as  a  volume  worthy 
of  V)eing  employed  to  aid  their  private  and  family  devotions;  and,  whether  beginning  the 
Christian  life,  or  more  advanced  in  the  experience  of  it,  will  read  it  with  prolit  and  plea- 
pure." — Church  Witness. 

"  One  great  charm  that  pervades  these  pages  is,  that  they  range  through  every  department 
of  hutnan  exp(^rience,  and  show  that  tlie  .Spirit  has  his  appropriate  teachings  for  every 
COQdition.    They  arc  also  eminoutly  titled  to  cherish  a  devotioual  spirit.'' — Dr.  iiprague. 


TiiK  Gospels  :  tvitu  Mokal  Eeflections  ox  each 
Verse. 


By  PASftciER  QuESNEL.  AVith  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  the  Rev.  Daniel 
Wilson,  A.  M.,  Vicar  of  Islington,  [now  Bishop  of  Calcutta.]  Care- 
fully revised  by  the  Rev.  Heshy  A.  Boardman,  D.  D.  Printed  with 
bold  type,  on  beautifully  tinted  and  sized  paper.    2  vols.  8vo.  ?4. 


Tlie  followinf;  letters  of  commendation  from  eminent  Clergymen,  and  brief  extracts 
Relected  from  numerous  notices  of  the  religious  and  secular  press,  are  submitted,  by  tho 
publishers,  as  evidence  of  the  very  high  character  of  the  work. 


"  We  have  no  work  of  the  same  kind  ;  Vfe  have  nothing  in  practical  divinity  so  sweet,  so 
spiritual,  so  interior  as  to  the  real  life  of  grace — so  rich,  so  copious,  so  original.  We  have 
ii.,thing  that  extols  the  grace  of  God,  and  abases  and  lowers  man  so  entirely.  We  lessen 
itot  the  value  of  our  various  admirable  comments  on  the  New  Testament;  they  have  e.neh 
their  particular  excellencies.  But  none  of  them  supersedes  Quf-8Nel;  none  can  supply  that 
t  horough  insight  into  the  world,  the  evil  of  sin,  tho  life  of  faith  and  prayer,  which  he  po»- 
fesses." — Bishop  Wilson. 


"  .\  repository  of  original,  striking,  spiritual  Meditations,  the  absence  of  which  could  be 
supplied  by  no  other  work  in  our  lauguage.'' — Dr.  BoarUman. 


(From  the  Tlighl  Rev.  AUnzo  Potter,  D.  D..  Bishop  nf  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  for 
the  Diocese  ^Pennsylvania.) 

Philadelphia,  Oct.  31,  IS.'iS. 

Messrs.  Parrj'  A  Mc'\l:llan, 

tieutlem'.'u — Qursiid's  JieflcHions  was  an  invaluable  contribution  to  the  sacred  literature 
of  the  world  in  its  original  form.  In  this  edition,  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  such 
names  as  Bishop  Wilson  and  tlie  Rev.  Dr.  lioardm.m,  it  will  be  still  more  useful  for  Knglish 
and  Protestani.  readers.  It  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
.Ijniscnists  of  the  ITth  century;  and  to  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  private  Christiana 
fit"  every  name,  it  must  always  be  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  interest  and  instruction. 
Your  press  could  have  rendered  no  better  service  to  the  public  than  by  such  an  edition  of 
such  a  work.  1  am.  gentlemen,  very  truly,  yoursi, 

ALONZO  POTTER. 


( From  Hev.  WilUam  It.  Williams,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Amity  street  Baptist  Churcli,  N.  York.) 

Kew  York,  2Uh  October,  185.5. 

Messrs.  T*arry  &  ^McMillan. 

Oenl!euu!u — I  have  for  some  years  been  almost  daily  in  the  use  of  Quesnel  in  the  original 
French.  It  is  blemished  there  with  some  Romanisms  that  are  withdrawn  iu  your  revision. 
Iteugel  excels  it  iu  nice  discrimination,  and  a  most  pregnant,  epigrammatic  brevity.  AVith 
that  exception,  Quesnel  .seems  to  me  to  deserve  rank  at  the  head  of  practical,  devout,  and 
.ipiritual  e-tjiositions  of  Vie  New  Testament.  As  revised,  in  your  beautiful  edition,  its  gene- 
ral circulation  would,  in  the  subscriber's  judgment,  be  one  of  tho  richest  boons  that  could 
be  conferred  on  the  various  Kvaugelical  churches  of  our  country. 

1  am,  gentlemen,  yours,  very  resp  y, 

WILLIAM  R.  WILLIAMS. 


(From  the  Per.  ilr.  Wijlie,  Pastor  of  First  Keformed  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia.) 
Messrs.  Parry  .V'  McMillan, 

Gentlemen — I  rejoice  to  find  that  you  have  given  to  the  American  public  so  handsome 
an  edition  of  Quesnel's  Moral  lietlections  on  the  Gospels.  'J'hcre  is  a  fulness,  a  freshness,  a 
sweetness  in  this  work  which  make  it  delightful  reading,  and  now  that  it  has  passed  under 
the  revision  of  two  such  Editors  as  Bishop  Wilson  and  Dr.  Boardman,  it  may  be  l  onsidered 
perfectly  free  from  any  tincture  of  Romanism.  I  regard  it  as  a  most  valuable  addition  to  a 
library,  and  would  commend  it  to  the  preacher,  the  yabbath  school  teacher,  and  the  private 
Christian,  as  a  most  prolitable  and  agreeable  companion,  in  the  study  of  the  Gospels,  I 
hope  it  may  have  such  a  circulation  as  will  lead  to  the  publication  of  his  writings  ou 
tho  other  parts  of  the  New  Testament.  With  great  regard,  truly  vours, 

T.  W.  J.  WYLIE. 

Philadelphia,  Nov.,  1855. 


Messrs.  Parry  &  M'Millan, 

Gentlomen — You  are  very  welcome  to  the  use  of  my  name  as  recommending  the  valuable 
wnd  eminently  spiritual  work  of  ''Quesnel  on  the  t-lospels."  which  you  have  just  published. 

CHAS.  P  M  II.VAINK. 

Cincinnati,  Nov.  27,  l.So.5.  Bishop  of  the  Prot.  Ep.  Ch.  in  Oiiio. 


PARKY  &.  M'.MILLAX'S  P L'liLlCATIOXS. 


(^From  Rev.  W.  Adams,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  j!adis"n  Square  Presbt/terian  Church.) 

liew  Turk  City,  dth  Nov.,  1S55. 

Messrs.  Parry  &.  5Ic5Iillan, 

Gentlemen — I  rejoice  in  the  republication  of  Qwsnel  on  the  Gn!:pe!s.  It  is  the  life-labor 
of  a  good  and  great  man.  AVe  owe  more  to  the  Jan^eni.st.s  than  ha.«  been  acknowledged 
Here  and  there  may  remain  iu  l*a.«cal,  Thomas  a'Kempis  and  Qnesnel,  Komish  notions — 
flies  in  the  ointment — which  are  easily  separated  from  the  fragrant  ma.«s.  There  is  an  \in- 
pomraon  richness,  pirh.  and  quaintness  in  the  Retlections  of  Quesnel.  which  will  secure  for 
them  that  esteem  they  deserve,  when  they  are  better  known.  The  excellent  taste  and 
judgment  of  the  American  Editor,  are  a  pledge  that  every  weed  has  been  culled  from  this 
Kardeu  of  spices.  Very  respectfully,  your  Obt.  Servt., 

  W.  ADAMS. 

(Prom  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander,  Pastor  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  and  Nineteenth  street  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York.) 

New  York,  Oct.  24, 1855. 
The  work  of  Quesnel  on  the  Gospels,  is  a  series  of  Devotional  Keflections,  which  has 
commanded  the  suffrages  of  Protestants.  As  corrected,  it  is.  in  my  opinion,  more  full  of 
holy  suggestion,  especially  for  Ministers  of  the  Word,  than  any  similar  writing;  indeed,  it 
breathes  the  best  spirit  of  Gerson,  Pa.<ical  and  I'enc-lon.  Hut  its  chief  glory  is  its  condem- 
iKition  by  the  famous  Constitution  U.viGENnus,  of  Pope  Clement  the  Jileventh.  I  rejoice 
in  the  republication  of  a  book  so  precious. 

  JAMES  W.  ALEXANDER. 

(From  Tlicmas  De  Wilt,  D.  D.,  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Oturch,  New  rbri.) 

Nrv>  York,  lUh  Oct.,  1855. 
T  esteem  the  neat  edition  of  "  Qucsnel's  Moral  Reflections  on  the  Gospels,"  published  by 
Parry  k  McMillan,  under  the  revision  of  Dr.  lioanlman,  highly  valuable  for  profitable  reli- 
gious use.  The  Jteflcctions  are  eminently  judicious,  andricijiy  spiritual  and  practical.  Few 
works  of  the  kind  are  so  well  adapted  fur  (tdification  in  the  devout  reading  of  the  Gospels. 
The  divine  life  in  the  soul  Is  happily  and  strikingly  delineated,  and  the  practical  bearing  of 
the  truth  upon  the  discipline  of  the  heart  and  regulation  of  the  life,  is  most  w  isely  and  im- 
pressively borne  home  in  these  volumes.  I  sincerely  hope  that  they  may  obtain  an  exten- 
eive  patronage,  and  wide  circulation  iu  the  different  branches  of  the  Christian  church. 

  THOMAS  DE  WITT. 

(From  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Durbin,  D.  D.,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia.) 

Philadelphia,  Oct.,  1855. 

Messrs.  Parry  &  McMillan, 

Gentlemen — Many  years  ago,  when  I  first  began  to  study  the  Bible,  with  aid  firom  the 
writings  of  others,  my  attention  was  directed  to  the  pious  Quesnel,  by  the  depth  and  truth 
of  his  Moral  and  Religious  Reflections  on  the  Gospels.  Without  endorsin'g  his  peculiar 
speculative  opinions,  which  appear  occasionally,  I  heartily  commend  his  Notes  or  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Gospels,  verse  by  verse.  They  address  themselves  to  the  heart  of  the  lay 
reader;  and  are  fruitful  aids  to  the  minister  in  preparing  for  the  pulpit. 

J.  P.  DURBIN. 


(From  E.  L.  Cleaveland,  D.  D.,  of  the  Congregatumal  Church,  New  JTaven.) 
The  publication  in  this  country  of  Qucsnel's  celebrated  work  on  the  Gospels,  over  whose 
truth-telling  pages  Rome  has  trembled  and  saints  have  rejoiced,  is  a  long-needed  and  most 
valuable  addition  to  our  religious  literature.  I  ajn  glad  that  its  full,  sparkling  current  of 
original  thought, — rich  in  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit, — is  henceforth  to  water  and  fertilize 
the  cliurches  of  our  land. 

E.  L.  CLEATELAND. 

New  Haven,  Nov.  20,  1855. 


EXTKACTS  FEOM  NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"  This  world-renowneil  work,  the  richest  product  of  Jansenist  Theology,  impressed  with 
the  imprimatur  of  the  i'opc's  anathema,  is  now  for  the  first  time  published  in  this  coun- 
try. *  «■  *  *  It  will  be  rea/1  in  this  country,  as  it  has  long  lieen  in  Europe,  by  thonsanda 
to  their  spiritual  edification." — UiUical  Repcri/ry  and  Princeton  Review. 

"  We  think  that  all  good  people,  and  clergymen  especially,  will  greatly  enjoy,  and  be 
largely  profited  by  these  '  Reflections.'  They  arc  not  a  comment  on  the  Gospels,  bnt  each 
Terse  in  followed  by  a  few  lines  suggesting  its  spiritual  richness  and  beauty,  and  often 
opening  its  religious  sense  with  charming  and  surprising  force.  The  volumes  are  admira- 
bly printed  in  large  and  fair  type,  and  in  excellent  taste." — Coyirp-eyatiimnlist. 

'•  We  doubt  not  that  ministers  and  private  Christians  will  find  these  volumes  to  be  a 
store  house  of  spiritual  treasures." — N.  Y.  Observer. 
"Quesnel  has  left  nothing  unwinnowed  but  tli"  finest  of  Ihe  wheal  "— A'«(.  Intel. 


PAUKY  &  M-.MILLAN  S  I'UBLKJATIONS. 


The  Book  and  its  Story. 

The  Book  and  itsStor^-;  a  Narrative  for  tlio  Younp;  on  the  occasion  of 
the  Jubilee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  By  i).  N.  R. 
With  an  Introductory  Preface  by  the  Rev.  T.  Phillips,  Jubilee 
Secretary.  Handsomely  printed,  in  one  volume,  crown  octavo,  on  fine 
paper,  and  illustrated  with  numerous  wood  cuts.    Cloth,         .  $1.00 

"  Tho  '  Story'  of  The  Rook,  in  all  ages,  countries,  and  languages,  is  told  with  simplicity  and 
truthfulness.  Tho  work  contains  tho  '  Story'  of  tho  Uible  from  the  first  dawn  of  Ruvelatiim 
to  the  completion  of  the  Sacred  C.inon,  with  the  interesting  tales  of  its  translation  and 
circulation,  from  the  earliest  efforts  to  the  present  time.  To  tell  the  Story  of  the  Book  in 
former  days,  a  multitude  of  curious  facts  have  been  culled  from  works  of  dillicult  .access  ; 
and  its  latter  progress  is  illustrated  by  an  abundant  variety  of  statements  drawn  from 
numerous  authentic  sources." — Preface. 

'•This  valuable  work,  containing  tho  *  Story*  of  that  wonderfully  preserved  book — the 
Bibie — should  be  heartily  welcomed  by  all  the  Christian  families  of  this  land.  Interesting 
and  instructive,  it  attracts  the  youth,  and  at  the  wame  time  furnishes  strong  food  for  the 
man  of  reflection  and  mature  years.  We  hope  that  the  publishers  will  he  more  than  re- 
munerated for  the  introduction  of  such  a  work  into  the  Christian  literature  of  this  land." 
— Inquirer  ct  Onirier. 

"  To  the  man  who  loves  Rod's  Word,  and  who  is  desirous  of  seeing  it  circulated  in  all  tho 
nations  of  our  earth,  this  book  is  an  inestimable  treasure.  It  ought  to  be  in  every  family 
and  congregational  library.  Its  perusal  must  profit  every  man  who  glances  over  its  pages."' 
— lieform  Banner. 

"  One  of  the  most  important  and  valuable  works  wc  have  ever  commended.  It  posse.ises 
throughout  a  powerful  interest. " — Amnican.  Courier. 

•'  It  places  before  us,  in  a  most  attractive  form,  the  history  of  the  Bible  itself,  and  tha 
countries  connected  with  that  history  from  the  earliest  date,  blending  with  the  statements 
delails  of  a  highly  instructive  character,  well  calculated  to  enlighten  the  mind,  and  to  im- 
press the  heart  with  feelings  of  reverence  for  the  *  Oracles  of  tho  Living  God.'  We  strongly 
recommend  the  work  aa  a  most  pleasing  and  instructive  addition  to  the  family  library." — 
Church  Witness. 

"  The  work  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  received  with  as  much  favor  in  this  country  as  in 
Kngland,  where  it  has  gone  through  eleven  editions  in  little  longer  than  a  year." — Cbni. 
Adverti:ier. 

"  This  book  will  be  sought  by  Christians  of  all  denominations.  It  is  indeed  a  most 
charming  history  of  the  Bible." — DaUy  News. 

**  Great  pains  seem  to  have  been  taken  to  render  the  varied  contents  of  the  volume  as 
accurate  as  they  are  interesting." — ^!((.  Eve.  Post. 

**Thi8  book,  we  understand,  has  already  passed  through  nineteen  editions  in  England.  It 
has  now  commenced  its  American  career,  and  wo  think  the  firm  of  .Messrs.  Parry  .t  McMil- 
lan has  been  particularly  judicious  in  selecting  a  work  of  so  much  excellence,  and  which 
was  so  much  needed  to  fill  up  the  desideratum  which  was  felt  in  religious  and  useful  know- 
ledge. Though  the  work  was  written  professedlj-  for  the  young,  the  old  may  be  profited 
thereby;  and  no  family  should  be  withtiut  it." — liel.  IntelUijencer. 

"  This  is  preci.sely  such  a  hook  as  should  bo  found  in  every  family.  The  wood  cuts  and 
illustrations  are  exceedingly  valuable.  The  publishers  display  great  taste  in  the  getting  up 
of  the  work." — I^es.  Banner. 

'■  A  deeply  interesting  volume.  We  shall  rejoice  to  know  that  a  copy  of  this  choice  volume 
is  finding  its  way  to  every  family  in  the  land.*' — Cln~istian  Visitor. 

"  We  know  of  no  book  for  general  readers  that  covers  the  same  ground.  It  well  deserves 
the  popularity  it  has  attained.'' — Journal  A'Ji'ocaie. 

"  The  writer  ha~s  obviously  brought  (o  his  task  largo  information  and  an  earnest  spirit ; 
and  he  has  imparted  these  in  such  a  way  to  his  pages  as  to  make  them  both  insLructivo 
and  attractive." — N(yrth  American. 

'•  It  is  no  disparagement  to  say  that  the  Story  of  '  thf.  Book"  enhances  its  interest.  The 
dealings  of  Providence  in  its  preservation  and  spread,  put  on  it  a  value  e%'en  beyond  what 
is  intrinsic.  We  heartily  recommend  this  volume  as  a  stimulant  to  the  study  of  the  Bibla  '' 
—N.  O.  Chris.  Adv. 

'■  It  is  a  book  of  remarkable  value ;  has  specimens  of  the  text  of  nearly  all  the  most  an- 
cient manuscript  copies  of  the  Holy  Writings  in  various  languages,  and  a  view  of  the  first 
public  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Crypt  of  St.  Paul's,  Loudon,  in  the  year  1541." — Con- 
cordin  Intelligencer 

"  It  contains  an  exceedingly  interesting  account  of  the  Bible  in  past  ages,  giving  sketches 
of  the  condition  of  the  nations  of  former  tiuies.  who  were  destitute  of  the  light  of  divine 
revelation,  relating  briefly  the  history  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scripiures.  and  the 
various  translations  of  them  in  ancient  and  modern  languages.  *  *  *  Altoire'lier  the  book 
is  an  excellent  one,  and  is  calculated  to  increase  our  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  SeripturcK, 
*nd  our  interest  in  their  cirsulation."— iJanncr  o/£.'te  Covenant. 


PAKRY    A    M-MIT,r,AX'?  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Six  Days  of  Creation. 

By  W.  G.  PviiiND.  A  Series  of  affectionate  Letters  from  a  Father  to  hia 
Children,  developing  the  progressive  advances  of  Creation  during  th<i 
Six  Days :  in  -which  the  Natural  History  of  Animals,  Plants,  Minerals, 
Celestial  Objects,  etc.,  and  their  uses  and  relations  to  man,  are 
treated  with  particular  reference  to  the  illustration  of  Scriptural 
truth.  A  highly  interesting  -worlt.  From  the  last  London  edition. 
AVith  numerous  illustrations.    1  vol.  crown  8vo.    Cloth,         -  $1.00 

"An  eleeant  manual  for  the  young;  far  superior  to  any  of  the  season,  and  to  the  l.irge 
majority  that  we  have  seen  at  any  time.  We  have  read  it  with  unallnyerl  satisfaction.  It 
comltincs  the  very  best  quahties  of  a  yonthful  instructor,  and  is  a  storehouse  of  the  most 
useful  information.  *  *  *  *  We  earnestly  recommend  this  book  to  parents,  as  one  of  the 
most  charming  and  beneficial  presents  they  can  make  to  their  children.  The  author  has 
the  interest  of  the  rising  generation  deeply  at  heart,  and  the  ability  to  prove  a  blessing  to 
it." — Methodist  Quarterly  ]!evicw. 

"We  can  recommend  it  as  an  excellent  familj'  book,  and  the  more  there  are  like  it  the 
better.  *  *  *  The  work  abounds  with  graphic  pictorial  illustrations,  and  can  scarcely  fail  to 
interest,  and  instruct,  and  sharpen  the  appetite  for  scriptural  truth.*' — Christian  /ntetti/jrncfr. 

"The  work  is  beautifully  brought  out  by  the  American  publishers,  having  tlie  advantage 
over  the  English  edition  of  a  great  many  beautiful  cuts  of  the  various  objects  of  natural 
history,  whiist  all  the  engravings  of  that  edition  are  accurately  reproduced  in  this.  It  will 
be  found  to  be  an  excellent  aid  to  parents." — Watchman  and  Observer. 

"We  can  safely  say  that  in  the  same  space  in  any  work  we  have  not  met  with  so  much 
substantial  information,  conveyed  in  such  an  attractive  way.  Tiierearesix  steel  plates  illus- 
trative of  the  appearance  of  our  planet  at  the  close  of  each  of  the  six  days'  work,  with  a 
vast  number  of  cuts  presenting  the  images  of  the  various  animals,  birds,  Ac.,  and  which 
will  be  very  attractive  to  young  readers.  *  *  *  We  would  most  earnestly  recommend  it  to 
the  notice  of  managers  of  congregational  libraries  and  parent.s,  as  eminently  suggestive  and 
illustrative  of'lessons  which  should  be  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  young.  *  *  *  The 
work  is  alike  admirable  in  design  and  execution.  We  wish  it  the  widest  possible  circula- 
tion ." — Col^m iaJ  I'rejihi/terian. 

'•  An  admirable  hook  for  family  instruction." — jV.  Orleans  Picayune. 

'•  A  more  valuable  or  delightful  volume  than  this  cannot  bo  put  into  the  hands  of  yovith. 
*  *  *  The  style  of  this  excellent  book  is  extremely  pleasing,  and  its  whole  tone  of  a  liigh 
order  of  genuine  but  simple  piety.  •  *  *  Wo  cordially  commend  it  to  the  patronage  of  all 
parents." — .Vif.  John  Observer. 

"  It  ought  to  find  a  ready  access  to  the  families  of  all  the  lovers  of  an  evangelical  litera- 
ture."— Vhrisiim  Visiter. 

'•The  amount  of  useful  information  this  book  contains  respecting  the  natural  history  of 
the  earth  and  the  living  creatures  which  inliabit  it,  is  immense.  Hut  its  iieculiar  merit  con- 
sists in  its  familiarising  the  reader  with  the  idea  of  the  Creating  Power.  The  young  person 
who  uses  this  book  in  order  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  works  of  creation,  will  ever  after 
associate  with  natur.il  objects  the  Author  of  nature.  In  an  ago  when  so  many  evil  iuflu- 
encts  arc  acting  upon  the  opening  minds  of  the  young,  this  yuod  influence  can  hardly  bo 
overestimated." — Sorth  American. 

'■This  is  a  most  elegant  and. e.\ce11ent  book.  It  is  not  a  discussion  of  Oeologii.il  theories, 
but  a  grouping  of  facta  in  natural  science — facts  in  Geology,  Mineralogy,  Natural  History, 
Hotany,  ic.  *■  *  *  It  is  a  good  '  Natural  Theology'  for  children,  where  they  can  learn  ac 
the  same  time  what  kind  of  a  world  they  live  in,  and  who  made  U."— Central  Chris.  Herald. 

"  We  can  recommeud  the  work  to  parents  as  a  valuable  present  to  familie.-." — .^'l.  Louit 
Jntellii/encer. 

'•  A  book  which  every  Christian  parent  shoul  1  pluce  in  tlie  bands  of  hia  children." — Sa- 
vannah J'lum/il  and  OmHer. 

A  book,  in  all  respects,  of  excellent  tendency." — Puritan  RecorO.er. 

'•  We  deem  it  a  duty  to  call  the  attentiuu  of  parents  and  teachers  to  this  work,  in  which 
the  elements  of  (ieology.  Astronomy,  -Natural  I'liilosophy,  Zoology,  and  other  sciences,  are 
set  forth  with  much  clearness.  ■*  *  *  It  is  important  when  so  many  skeptical  books  are  ]iut 
iu  circulation,  that  the  young  fbould  bo  early  convinced  that  true  science  is  in  harmony 
with  I'.evelation." — N.  Y.  Com.  Advertiser. 

"  Not  a  geological,  but  a  practically  religious  book,  very  beautifully  got  np.  It  is  quite 
refreshing  to  peruse  a  devocional  and  well- written  volume  on  this  theme,  that  has  been  so 
long  the  prey  of  science,  tliat  the  religion  of  it  has  been  regarded  as  a  secondary  matter. 
We  cordially  commend  this  beautiful  book  to  all  readers,  especially  the  young." — N.  Y.  Obs. 

"It  is  juflt  such  a  publication  as  parents  will  wish  to  have  by  them  when  they  seek  to 
teach  their  children  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  volume  it  illustrates." — Boston  Atlas. 

"  A  thoroughly  evangelical  spirit  pervades  the  volume,  adapting  it  to  impress  the  heart| 
as  well  as  inform  the  uuderstanding. ' — Prulrytcriaa. 


PAIIRY  i   M'MILr.AN'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Ocean. 

By  P.  H.  GossE,  author  of  "An  Introduction  to  Geology,"  "The  Cana- 
dian Naturalist,"  etc.  With  fifty-two  illustrations.  From  the  last 
London  edition.    1  vol.  12mo.    Cloth,  $1.00 

Contexts  : — Introduction. — 1.  The  Shores  of  Uritain. — 2.  Same  subjcet  continued. — X  The 
Arctic  Seas. — 1.  The  Atlantic  Ocean. — 5.  The  Pacific  Ocean. — fl.  Samn  sulgect  continued. 
— 7.  Th«  Indian  Ocean. 

In  the  above  work,  the  author  has  described,  with  minuteness  of  detail,  a  few  of  the 
many  objects  of  interest  more  or  less  directly  connected  with  the  Sea,  and  especially  has  he 
endeaTored  to  lead  youthful  readers  to  associate  with  the  phenomena  of  nature,  habitual 
thoughts  of  God.  A  subject  so  vast  as  the  Ocean  might  be  viewed  in  a  variety  of  a.«pects.  all 
of  them  more  or  less  instructive.  The  one  which  has  been  chosen  is  that  in  which  it  presents 
itself  to  the  mind  of  a  naturalist,  desirous  of  viewing  the  Almighty  Creator  in  llis  work.s. 
The  selections  are  made  chiefly  from  Marino  Botany,  Zoology,  Meterology,  the  Fisheries, 
the  varying  aspects  of  Island  and  Coast  Scenery,  Incidents  of  Navigation.  Atmospheric 
Phenomena,  Ac,  arranged  in  the  order  of  geographical  distribution,  as  they  might  be  sup- 
posed to  present  themselves  to  an  observant  voyager. 

"We  know  of  no  work  better  calculated  to  lead  the  mind  to  associate  with  the  various 
phenomena  of  nature,  habitual  thoughts  of  God.  and  au  awe-inspiring  admiration  of  lliti 
manifold  works  and  power." — StncJair's  Mrmthly  Circular. 

"A  very  charming  book,  and  one  that  every  parent  may  he  glad  to  put  into  the  hands 
of  his  children,  sure  that  they  will  be  benefited  and  amused  by  it:  and  we  fancy  there  are 
few  parents  who  might  not  learn  themselves  .something  from  it.s  perusal." — MoiilrenI  GazetU. 

"This  book  is  full  of  instructive  and  entertaining  information.  *  *  *  One  might  goto 
eea  for  years  and  not  learn  as  much  about  the  Ocean  as  he  can  gather  from  a  fi-w  hours' 
study  of  this  volume.  Its  moral  and  religious  instruction  also  forms  one  of  its  chief  fea- 
tures."— N.  Y.  Observer. 

"  A  more  instructive  book  cannot  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  young  people." — Providence 
Journal. 

"  We  take  pleasure  in  recommending  this  charming  volume  as  a  work  which  blends  sin- 
gularly and  felicitously  a  fund  of  instruction  with  the  highest  iuti^rest."— iV.  Orleans  Bee. 

*'  Full  of  interest  and  instruction." — A^.  Y.  Christian  Adv.  and  Journal. 

"The  religious  tone  of  the  volume  is  pure,  and  the  youthful  heart,  in  tracing  Mr.  Oosse'g 
pages,  can  scarcely  refrain  from  associating  God  with  the  works  of  llis  hand." —  Western 
Christian  Advocate. 

"  Both  in  respect  to  illustrations  and  style,  it  deserves  a  place  in  every  home,  as  well  as 
in  every  lyceum  library." — Episcopal  Iiecorde.r. 

"  The  author  is  perfectly  at  home  in  the  department  of  natural  science  to  which  his  book 
relates;  and  he  has  succeeded  admirably  in  making  the  sea  a  witness  for  the  benevolence 
and  wisdom  of  God.  Though  the  work  seems  primarily  intended  a,**  a  contribution  to  popu- 
lar science,  the  devout  mind  will  hardly  tail  to  fiud  in  it  much  valuable  material  for  reli- 
gious contemplation." — Puritan  liecorder. 

The  volume  is  adapted  to  awaken  a  fre.sh  sense  of  the  vast  resources  of  nature,  and  to 
inspire  a  feeling  of  religious  awe,  in  the  contemplation  of  the  perpetual  miracles  of  crea- 
tion.'— N.  Y.  Tribune. 

"The  book  is  a  good  one  to  buy  for  family  reading,  and  would  by  no  means  be  out  of 
place,  in  our  opinion,  in  the  libraries  of  our  Sunda}'  Schools."- — Cout]regatiovulist. 

"The  author  occupies  a  high  place  among  the  naturalists  of  the  tiay.  and  his  book  benr« 
evidence  of  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  attainments,  while  he  (ivery  where  shows  a  most 
delightful  spirit  of  piety  and  a  habit  of  looking  up  from  nature  to  nature's  God." — Jiaurter 
and  Advocate 

"A  work  of  deep  interest  and  full  of  instruction." — Arii.  and  Com.  Advertiser. 

"A  delightful  volume  of  popular  science,  embracing  every  variety  of  information  on  ma- 
rine subjt^cts." — iV.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

'*  We  are  pleased  with  both  the  design  and  execution  of  this  book.  *  *  *  From  among 
the  various  sea  formations  and  inhabitants  the  author  has  madf*  a  judicious  si-lection,  and 
teaches  le.s.sons  which  are  calculated  at  once  to  instruct  the  understanding  and  improve  the 
heart." —  Piesbyleriim. 

"  Fascinating  as  a  romance,  reliable  as  history,  and  sterling  as  a  moral  essay." — Am. 

Cowier. 

"  Taking  the  great  oceans  one  by  one,  it  makes  you  intimate  with  their  geography,  their 
winds,  their  tides,  their  zoology,  and  in  short  with  mf)r(>  marvels  than  are  dreamed  of  by 
the  mvriiuls  of  careless  jLissengers  whom  the  rushing  steamer  whirls  from  port  to  port." — 
V.  Y.'Alhim. 


PARRY  A  MCMILLAN'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


Evenings  "with  the  Prophets: 

A  Series  of  Memoirs  and  Meditations.    By  Rey.  A.  Morton  Brown, 
LL.  D.,  Cheltenham.    1  vol.  crown  8vo.,       ....  $1.00 

'*  This  is  a  Tolume  of  high  merit  hoth  as  an  eiucidation  and  a  defence  of  the  Scripture*. 
It  is  not  addressed  to  the  select  and  lettered  few;  but  to  the  great  multitude,  who  are 
capable  of  appreciating  the  results  of  learning,  and  are  anxious  to  obtain  clear  and  con- 
nected views  of  the  lives,  characters,  and  writings  of  holy  men  of  God,  who  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  emphatically  a  boolt  for  the  people,  and  as  such  it 
canuot  fail  to  be  attended  with  results  happy,  permanent,  and  extensive.  No  mind  but 
one  replete  with  knowledge,  and  familiar  with  the  entire  range  of  sacred  literature,  could 
liave  produced  it;  and  yet  the  whole  is  pervaded  by  a  freshness  and  a  lucid  simplicity  that 
must  invest  it  with  high  interest  to  all  readers.  There  is  nothing  to  be  seen  of  the  dry  ela- 
boration of  criticism,  or  of  the  formality  and  stiffness  of  mere  comment.  Each  chapter  and 
section  flow  on  clear,  comprehensive,  full,  presenting  the  results  rather  than  the  process  of 
criticism  and  learned  investigation.  And  hence,  while  the  volume  will  be  warmly  approved 
by  scholars  aod  divines,  who  are  already  acquainted  with  the  questions  discussed,  it  will  be 
especially  welcomed  by  the  great  body  of  the  thoughtful  and  inquiring,  who,  without  minute 
acquaintance  with  the  literature  of  Biblical  investigation  and  prophetic  studies,  are  anxioua 
to  arrive  at  satisfactory  views  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole.  To  the  young,  who  are  entering  on 
an  earnest  examination  of  the  Scriptures,  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  clear  conceptions  of 
the  harmony  of  divine  truth;  and  to  those  of  riper  years,  who  are  desirous  of  having  their 
knowledge  ampliticd  or  confirmed,  it  will  prove  an  invaluable  boon. 

..^  *  >t  *  *  I'jjg  full  light  of  patient  inquiry  and  ample  knowledge  shines  on  every  topic 
of  importance  connected  with  the  life,  and  labors,  and  times  of  the  long  train  of  prophets 
that  pa'S  in  review,  so  that  the  reader  finds  himself  not  merely  looking  on  a  vivid  and  life- 
like picture  of  gifted  and  inspired  men,  but  surrounded  with  the  circumstances  and  .scenes 
through  which  they  passed.  The  cliapters  resemble  great  historic  paintings;  each  prophet 
btand.s  as  the  centre,  and  around  him  gather  the  pomp  and  circumstance,  and  grandeur 
and  desolation  of  ancient  monarchies,  the  shadows  of  Israel's  doom,  and  the  rising  .splen- 
dors of  .Messiah's  kingdom. 

"«  *  »  «  As  far  as  extensive  knowledge  and  earnestness  of  purpose,  combined  with 
great  ease  and  felicity  in  delineating  characters  and  events,  serve  to  throw  interest  around 
the  grandest  themes  that  can  occupy  the  human  mind,  Dr.  Brown's  labors  have,  we  thinii, 
been  eminently  successful.  Readers,  who  have  already  accurate  and  comprehensive  views 
of  the  various  subjects  discussed,  will  be  gratified  with  the  clearness  and  force  with  whii  Ji 
they  are  handled  ;  and  many,  whose  notions  of  the  sacred  volume  have  been  disjointed  and 
fragmentary,  will  rise  from  the  perusal  of  this  book  with  conceptions  of  its  unity  which  will 
e.tciie  their  grateful  and  admiring  wonder,  and  although  not  formally  an  argumctnt  for  Uio 
divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  it  cannot  bo  read  without  furnishing  to  all  thinking 
minds  attestations  of  the  divinity  of  the  Bible. 

"  *  *  *  *  The  style  in  which  the  volume  is  written  is  easy,  fresh,  and  varied,  not  un- 
frequently  rising  into  great  force  and  beauty.  There  are  many  examples  of  happy  anti- 
theses, and  not  a  few  gem-like  passages  of  aphoristic  wisdom.  Sometimes  there  is  an 
element  of  the  dramatic  running  through  Dr.  Brown's  sketches,  and  occasionally  there  are 
eloiiuent  outbursts  of  indignant  invective  against  tyranny  and  oppression.  Thrnugbout, 
indeed,  the  variety,  spirit,  and  naturalness  of  the  style  are  such  that  the  reader  glides 
along  the  pages  with  an  ease  that  prevents  all  disturbance  of  thought,  and  secures  an  im 
mediate  apprehension  of  the  subject. 

"  We  warmly  commend  the  book  to  all  classes  of  our  readers,  assured  that  its  perusal 
cannot  fail  to  yield  them  both  pleasure  and  profit." — London  Evnaijdical  Magazine. 


Howard  Grey:  a  Story  for  Boys. 

By  a  young  Lady  of  Philadelphia.  18mo.,  fine  paper,  pp.  231,  cloth,  $0.50 

"  A  well-expressed  book,  pure  in  sentiment,  wise  in  analysis  and  apprehension  of  <:barao- 
ter;  and,  in  a  genuine  sense,  moral  and  religious  in  influence." — Bizarre. 
"An  interesting  little  work."— -JV.  O.  Delta. 

"  Calculated  to  stimulate  boys  to  earnest  exertion."— Tl^^cAman  and  Ohserrer. 

"We  seldom  meet  with  a  little  story  so  carefully  and  powerfully  written  as  this  is. 
Howard  Grey  will  be  likely  to  make  a  deep  impression  for  good  upon  the  minds  of  the 
young  readers  to  whom  it  is  given.  It  will  encourage  them  to  perseverance  in  the  path  of 
duty,  and  patience  under  suffering  and  wrong." — jV.  7!  Cnm.  Jdrertisfr. 

"  We  hope  that  the  success  of  the  author  of  Howard  Orey  may  be  such  as  to  encourage 
her  to  often  repeat  her  endeavours  to  amuse  anil  instruct  her  young  friends,  both  at  houw 
and  abroad,  by  the  publication  of  many  more  just  such  stories  for  boy»."— Boston  Mut. 


PARltY  &  MOIILLAN'S  POJiUCATIuNS. 


f\t\}.  %\kxi  Janus'  ^aofo. 

The  Way  of  Salvation 

Illustrated  in  a  Series  of  Thirty-six  Discourses.    By  the  Rev.  Albert 

13.\RNES.    1  vol.  12mo.    Cloth,  $1.00 

Contents: — The  Bible— Obscviritios  nf  Divine  Kevclation— Claims  of  the  Christian  Keligion 
— The  Condition  of  Mnn  not  benefited  by  rejeeting  Chrisstianity— The  importance  of  IMan 
— The  Karth  a  jilace  of  Probation — Man  on  Probation — Necessity  of  accommoilutinj;  our- 
selves to  the  Divine  Government — The  ^tiile  in  which  the  Gospel  finds  Man — What  must 
1  do  to  be  saved  ?— Conviction  of  Sin — Strupglos  of  a  Convicted  Pinner — A  wounded  Spirit 
— What  will  give  permanent  Peace? — The  Mercy  of  God — The  Atonement  as  fitted  to  give 
Peace — The  Atonement  as  it  removes  tho  Obstacles  in  the  way  of  I'ardon — The  Necessity 
of  I»e?:eneration — The  Nature  of  Regeneration — Agency  of  the  Spirit  in  Regeneration — 
The  Nature  of  Repentance— The  Relation  of  Repentance  to  pardon  in  the  Christian  System 
— Philosophical  Necessity  of  Repentance — B'oundation  of  the  Command  to  Repent — Evi- 
dences of  true  Repentance — Faith  a  Condition  of  Salvation — Value  and  Imjiortanee  of 
Kaith — Faith  as  an  Klementary  Principle  of  Action — Ilnw  shall  Man  be  just  with  God? — 
?Ian  cannot  justify  himself  by  Denying  or  Disproving  the  charge  of  Guilt — Man  cannot 
justify  himself  by  showing  that  his  Conduct  is  right — Man  cannot  merit  Salvation — What  is 
meant  by  the  merits  of  Christ — In  what  sense  we  are  justified  by  the  merits  of  Christ — The 
Influence  of  Faith  in  Justification — The  Rearing  and  Importance  of  Justification  by  Faith. 
"To  the  sinner,  whether  awalicned  or  iinawakened — to  tho  penitent,  whether  seeking 
pardon  or  rejoicing  in  it — to  the  thoughtful,  whether  a  believer  or  a  sceptic — to  the  intelli- 
gent mind,  of  whatever  class  and  under  wliatever  circumstances,  tliis  treatise  on  the  '  Way 
OF  Salvmion'  m-iy  be  heartily  and  hopefully  recommended." — i?.  Hfuderson,  D.  />.,  London. 
"The  volume  cannot  fail  to  benefit  the  Christian  cause." — Colonial  Presbyterian. 
"In  handling  his  weighty  themes,  ]Mr.  Rarnes  emi>loys  a  sinewy  strength  of  argument,  a 
striking  originality  of  illustration,  and  a  practical  common  sense,  which  need  no  enforcement 
from  rhetorical  common-places." — jV.  K  Trihune. 

"Characterized  by  clearness  of  statement,  felicity  of  illustration,  vigor  of  thought,  and 
that  (luiet  earnestness  which  gives  a  charm  to  every  thing  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Barnes." — 
Jndepenihnt. 

"As  specimens  of  theological  reasoning,  of  Iiomiletic  ability  and  completeness,  and  of 
practical  religious  feeling,  we  know  of  no  writings  of  Jlr.  Barnes'  superior.  They  are  clear 
in  thought,  thorough  in  reasoning,  and  animated  in  style;  and  so  impregnated  with  the 
personal  experiences  of  the  author,  as  to  be  deeply  affecting  iu  their  earoestncis  and  adapt- 
cdness." — N.  Y.  Evangelid. 

Scriptural  Views  of  Slavery. 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Sci-iptural  Views  of  Slavery.  By  Rev.  Albkkt 
Baunks.    1  vol.  12mo.    Cloth  •    .       .  $1.00 

Contents: — Introduction.  Chap.  1. — Reasons  why  the  Appeal  on  the  Subject  of  Slavery 
should  be  made  to  the  Bible.  Chap.  2.— What  Constitutes  Slavery?  Chap.  3. — Slavery  in 
the  Time  of  the  Patriarchs.  Chap.  4. — Slavery  in  Kgypt.  Chap.  5. — The  Mosaic  Institu- 
tions in  relation  to  Servitude;.  Chap.  C— Hebrew  Servitude  in  the  time  of  the  Prophits. 
Chap.  7. — The  relation  of  Christianity  to  Slavery. 

<'A  calm,  patient,  reverential,  and  candid  investigation  of  the  teaching  of  Scripturo 
the  subject  of  slavery." — Heliyinus  Herald. 

"  A  dispassionate  and  thorough  treatise  upon  the  Scriptural  Tievis  of  Slavery." — Inder 
pendent. 

Practical  Sermons  : 

Designed  for  Vacant  Congregations  and  Families.  By  Rev.  Aldekt 
Barnes.    1  vol.  12uio.    Cloth,  $1.00 

Contexts: — The  Freenessof  the  Gospel— The  Love  of  God  in  the  Gift  of  a  Saviour — Why  will 
ye  die? — The  Deceitfuliiess  of  tho  Heart — Indecision  in  Religion — The  Reason  why  men  are 
not  Christians— The  Jlisery  of  forsaking  God- God  is  worthy  of  Confidence— Repentance — 
Salvation  Easy — The  Principles  uijon  which  a  Profession  of  Religion  should  be  made  (2 
sermons) — Enemies  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  (:i  .sermons) — The  Rule  of  Christianity  in  regard 
to  Conformity  to  the  World— The  Bles.sings  of  a  Benignant  Spirit— .Secret  Prayer— The  Sab- 
bath Secret  Faults — Preparation  to  uii  et  God — The  Burden  of  Dumah — The  Harvest  Past. 

"Ministers  of  the  Gospel  may  derive  many  valuable  suggestions  from  this  book  to  aid 

them  in  their  preparations  for  the  pulpit;  and  Christians  generally  will  find  that  a  prayer 

ful  perusal  of  them  is  adapted  to  inform  the  judgment,  and  to  improve  the  heart." — CAri« 

ttan  Viailer. 


